You Wish
by Kitsune Krazy
Summary: Shooting stars grant wishes,we all know that. But how did a wish this farfeched ever come true? And just what effects will it have on the 3 worlds? They'll never be the same, that's for sure! R&R pleasums! XD
1. Karma

Ever had one of those days where you feel like you're ready to collapse or just don't want to deal? I'm sure you have, but have you had one of those same days; school to be precise, and then reality bites you in the butt and you realize you still have a whole period plus your beloved after school activity to endure? Well, this is what was currently on the platter for me and that dish had long lost appeal. Needless to say, I contemplated what any teenager who had had enough would consider doing; ditch. Alas, I only contemplated it though and before the final late bell I was sitting in my desk wishing the stain on the wall would eat my teacher.

"Today we're going to be doing poetry…" Peon-sensei droned on in his monotone. _Blah, blah, blahdy, blah! Like I care! _I mused rolling my eyes. Keeping my eyes on him I bent over and pulled my sketch book out of that obese backpack of mine. I let my mind wander as Peon blathered about the greatest poets of are time and some other crap. I have nothing against poetry, in fact I love it, but I wasn't in the mood to listen. I needed to create. So I started doodling, a fairy, the only thing that came to mind. I twirled the pencil and bit the eraser a little when I finished then added some flowers I'd seen earlier. Some type of jasmine, I think.

I looked over my work; proud of the lithe, gentleness about her and the hint of a smile playing on her lip. I smiled and began to write a poem about it. Just when I finished and was going to color it, Peon snatched it out of my hands. I mentally kicked myself for choosing a front row seat at the beginning of the year in order to do better, before I figure out he was the easiest and most boring teacher I had.

"Well, well." Peon said, squinting at the paper; his grubby fingers were probably smudging the fairy and I could feel myself go hot from embarrassment and rage. He smiled at me and all I could think was: _oh gods no_. That idiot thought my stupid scribbles were good and needed to be _shared_, he probably thought he was doing me a favor; I could read it in his chubby, too-pleased face. "It looks like Tikoto-san has taken our little lesson to heart. She's made a poem and even drew something to go with it!" He stated proudly as if he were talking about winning the noble prize, showing the class my picture. _You got the order backwards, cheese ball! _I longer to yell out, but kept my mouth shut and let him continue the embarrassment. He was a nice teacher, really he was, but now I _really_wanted that stain to eat someone; me.

"Ehem." Peon, cleared his throat; I silently thanked myself for making such a short poem. "The Fairy." And there was no stopping him, he began to recite it.

"Fragile, folded wings,

Tiny dexterous fingers,

Warm eyes and a button nose,

A twinkle in her eyes,

A kind of magic in her smile.

She's waiting.

Biding her time till dawn,

Where she and her kin will gather,

And drink in the sun's first rays."

He smiled stupidly around the room, letting the class soak it in before saying, "My, wasn't that lovely." Handing it back to me. I grabbed it and shoved it in my backpack, vowing to burn it when I got home.

* * *

"Mimi-chan!!!" _Oh gods no… Don't mention the poem… please!!! _"That drawing of your was really good!" _At least she didn't…_ "And so was the poem! God you're such a kiss up!" She added jokingly. _Beeeeeep! _I spun around on my heel to face Rose who happened to have the same class English as me, we were good friends. In addition, we both enjoyed poetry and doodling, but I really hated the complements it got me. I sighed and said, "I was just doodling and he just grabbed it from me!!" I moaned, "How embarrassing… and annoying!" Rose laughed and told me it was nothing to worry about and unhelpfully told me it was my own fault for choosing the front row. "Yeah well…" I shrugged and gave her a quick hug. "I gotta go soccering!" "Soccering? What?" She laughed and waved me off. I giggled to before running off towards the field, after a quick glance at her retreating figure, black hair a sway. 

The bright sun beat down and while it was beautiful, I silently cursed knowing I'd overheat. Heck, I'd overheat if it was snowing! And running certainly didn't help the matter, but it did feel good. That was why I loved soccer, at least usually, today it sucked. In fact, I decided to ditch and make up some crap about a headache which I _did _have earlier but it went away. So I _technically _wasn't lying.

_I suppose mom will wanna know why I not at practice… I guess I'll just hang out in the forest… _I yawned and shifted my backpack on my shoulder. Damn, it was heavy, then again it _was_ like 50 pounds. I started humming to myself before bursting out into 'Build Me Up Buttercup.' The warmth of the sun heated my face and I could feel a grin flow across my lips as I started the chorus. Singing, taking a walk on a sunny afternoon, what more could I ask for? At little times like these I suppose it wasn't so boring in the real world.

I finished the song and started musing about what to sing next, or just to daydream, I still had at least 20 minutes before my destination. I sighed heavily and dangerously thought how cool it's be if someone attacked me. I'd never been in a real fight and I longed for one, especially since I had some unidentified anger welled up in me I wouldn't mind ridding myself of. Violence is never the answer, but it sure as hell helps find one. I let my mind wander over the coolness of Naruto and Yusuke's lives, with their missions and whatnot. Actually, I kind of preferred Yu Yu, I mean, that could actually happen! I finally decided on singing 'This Side Of Paradise' and before I knew it I was at the edge of the forest.

I took a deep breath of the earthbound sent of the wet mud and pine needles, swinging my arms in contentment before heading in.

Birds chirped all around me, squirrels and mice shuffled in the undergrowth. It was peaceful and calm, I loved it here.

"To think I almost went to boring old soccer practice!" I laughed aloud, "This is so much better!" I sighed dreamily, flinging my backpack off so I could freely explore. _Maybe if I'm lucky something cool will happen! Or what if Hiei were in this very forest? _A radiant smile broke out as I let the make believe and adventure flow into my mind. Here, in this little forest, anything could happen. I could whisk myself to the dark tournament or be on a dangerous mission squabbling with Shika-san on tactics or be fighting evil hollows. Sometimes, I'd even make up my own story, with a mirror of myself as the hero, taking in the glory of the adventure and saving townsfolk from the monsters. It was my own little world, and it made everything better. Trivial matters like those in school, bad moods, or losses meant little here. They went to the back of my mind.

I climbed several trees and jumped from the branches, crying out in false agony when my foes blade scratched me and in triumph when I finally defeated them. Before long, I started to feel a little sleepy. So I climbed up another tree and took a nap.

At least, it was supposed to be. By the time I woke up once more, the sun had long sunk under the horizon and the birds had already went to bed. "Oh shiznips!!!" I cried, jumping out of the tree. Of course, I did this without thinking and my legs were numb from sitting in the tree. This resulted in falling flat on my face, so basically I just fell out of the tree and now my legs hurt. That couldn't be good.

I waited for some feeling to return before getting up and grabbing my backpack, or trying to at least. When I grabbed it a sharp jolt of pain leapt through my fingers and upon inspection, I found I broke two and they were bleeding. "Great," I sighed, "Ah well, it'll heal. No need to worry mom." Shrugging it off I grabbed my bag with my other hand and started through the forest. I looked at the purple digits and sighed, annoyed, but I didn't see any reason to trouble myself with a doctor. The leaves crunched under my feet as I walked and an inky black sky hung over me, slightly blotted by trees. I watched a white stripe zoom across and I smiled.

A shooting star. I hadn't seen one since I was a nugget.

"They say to make a wish if you see one…" I half whispered. World peace flashed in my head but I knew the heavens were too busy to deal with mortal matters, especially fulfilling such drastic wishes. So I decided to wish for the first thing that came to mind, since I had a dream about it just moments earlier. I took a deep breath, cupping my hands over my mouth to amplify the volume and screamed with all my might, "I WISH THAT I HAD AN EXCITING LIFE AND COULD GO ON LOTS OF ADVENTURES LIKE IN YU YU HAKUSHO!!!!!!!"

I took a deep breath, slightly winded from the shout. A sense of childish joy overcoming me as I watched the star fad into the sky. I turned and was instantly knocked back with a force like that of a bullet, my heavy backpack drawing me down even faster, knocking the wind out of me as it's weight settled on top of me with a jolt. I tried to find the cause of the onslaught and found it, a single soccer ball.

"Karma…" I muttered, gasping, "Figures…" Before the overwhelming darkness bolted out the stars and overtook me.

**A/N: Yays! This idea just popped into my head for a second and I was debating to turn it into a fanfic or not, but I decided yup! So, here it is!! I hope you like it!! And please review!!! - **

Tikoto Midori

IMP


	2. Not In Kansas Anymore

**Added: ZOMFG!!! I figured out how to make my computer biligual so, naturally, i had to go and translate the shit into acutal japanese letters! XD**

**Cause I'm lazy and won't translate everything, italics are another language if they are in parentheses. **

When I opened my eyes I was sure of three things. One: It was morning. Two: Someone or something had moved me. And Three: I was not in Kansas anymore.

I sat up and rubbed my head a little, bent on revenge before I realized the difference in the plants. There was no poison oak, or huckle berries. No oak or pine, only large widespread trees I had no name for. The most intriguing plant was one that looked like it bore lotus flowers, an impossible tree to achieve in the cold weather of my hometown. Sighing to myself I pushed myself up into a sitting position and had to bit my lip from screaming bloody murder. _Fingers, gotta remember the broken fingers…_I shook my head and ran my good hand over it to make sure that these wacko plants weren't part of a concussion.

After a few seconds of inspecting myself I found I was all but fine except for a small cut on my forehead and those stupid fingers. Since my clothes were already screwed up I ripped off the sleeve of my t-shirt to wrap it, then ripped off the other just to even it up.

"Well, I just stepped into wonderland………." I shook my head at the odd plants before grabbing my bag and musing to myself, "Let's see if I can fine Alice."

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

After god knows how many hours (probably minutes, but it _feels_ like hours) I finally found an end to all the strange plants and stumbled onto a road. It looked like it headed into a city, but seeing as the lollipop kin wouldn't be helping me down it couldn't be sure. I shook my head at my fantasies but quickly decided to bring them back. _Why not?_ I thought to myself, _How often do I get knocked out with some random projectile and wake up in a place like this? _

Thus, I began daydreams of an adventure I might find on my way to town. Maybe, there was a strange force stalking me already, like villains (or overly curious heroes) do in manga! It was easy getting caught up in those stupid fantasies and before long I was a few feet from the end of the road, obscured with some bushes and branches that dare try to block my path. So naturally, I took of running as fast as I could, bursting through the blockade into the bright morning sun.

I stopped dead in my tracks. This was not my town.

Large gray skyscrapers towered above my head, cars flashed by and people chatted near a fountain in small park across the street. However, that was the least of my worries. I could read every sign in the vicinity, sure, but they weren't English letters at all. The elegant brush strokes of kanji, hiragana and katakana fused together to form pictures of the words they spoke covering signs everywhere. Then, the people. Excuse me how it sounds, but the people were not normal. I mean sure, I'd seen Asians and such but here; it was like anime come to life, the hair colors, the styles, everything.

I don't know when I'd started walking into the strange environment, but my feet were carrying me towards the park across the street. My heart started pounding against my chest and I suddenly felt a black hole settle in the pit of my gut. This was not possible. It was only a day after I got hit! There was _no way_ I could be in _the_ Japan in that small amount of time.

And if by some freakish and horribly unlikely incident someone did pay that much money to bring me to some random place… I shuddered at what would of happened. Not because I couldn't fend them of obviously, but because I'd most likely sleep through my first, and that's just CREEPY!! I hugged my arms and shook my head to clear it of the thoughts.

A woman and her child were splashing near the fountain so I decided to ask them, they seemed nice enough. _Calm down, Midori, this could just be a city near yours that you've never been too. Right…_

_It doesn't mean anything if there's kanji, it could be another Japan-Town… _I managed to unlock my arms from the hug so I'd look normal, rattled, but normal. "Ah, um… excuse me miss." The woman turned her head letting me know I had her attention so I pressed on, "What city is this?" The woman stared for a few seconds and I weakly smiled. Finally she opened her mouth and told me, "ごめん、英語をはなしません。*"

Oh, fruit-loop. Japanese.

I bowed slightly, pivoted on my heal and all but ran as fast as I could to the large grey skyscrapers. There had to be payphones there, I was sure I saw a subway entrance near it. I bumped into a few people but I was too rattled to summon up an apology. As I thought, there was a subway entrance and at the bottom of the well, just as luck may have it, there were payphones.

I scrambled up to the payphones, mind racing. Japan. _The _Japan. There was _no_ possible way!!!!!! My hands stumbled uselessly over the phone until I realized I needed to put coins in. Without a second thought I yanked my pockets inside out, then, my backpack's pockets once the search proved useless. It took about two minutes for me to figure out that despite I had enough money to call, I had no yen. The phone wouldn't except my crumpled dollars or quarters. I bit my lips as I felt the rage surge, uselessly trying to keep it in. Finally, I just let it burst.

"WHY THE COKE BOTTLE DON'T I CARRY A CELL PHONE?!?!!?" I bellowed, smashing the phone down onto the receiver; neatly breaking it in half. Needless to say, that added fuel to my fire. "OH THAT'S FRUITING FABULOUS!!!!!" I screamed, and kicked the phone booth causing it to tremble. The addition of an octave made me remember with horror that I was in a public area. I spun around to find dozens of staring faces in my audience. Luckily they soon decided the contents of their pockets or shoelaces were more interesting. I felt my cheeks flush and realized my chance at borrowing a cell phone from someone had dropped to hopeless.

I sighed and ran my hand through my long, blonde hair and took a deep breathe. _No phone… no cash…that's just fantastic! _I bitterly thought slumping down in despair. Kicking my backpack for good measure and ruffling my hair furiously I let myself seethe. Screaming in my head was just better for those poor people anyway.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and I briefly contemplated ignoring them but the secondary tap convinced me to look up. "What?" I asked weakly, not really in the mood.

"すみません、だいじょぶですか？_*_" My mouth fell open into a little 'o' as I stared at the speaker. I had to be dreaming. In front of me, with an expression of confusion and concern filling his emerald eyes stood a boy of my age. His long red hair slightly obscured his feminine features but I already could tell who is was without that purple school uniform of his hinting at it. Kurama. It was Kurama, _the_ Kurama from Yu Yu Hakusho. I just stared at him in a daze mouth a gape. He shifted uncomfortably and asked again how I was. This time I managed to shut my trap and nod.

He smiled, and the fan girl urge to glomp, scream and drool overwhelmed me so much I nearly fainted. He started to get up, and I managed to form a coherent sentence. "ちょーちょっと待って！！*" I stuttered slightly as the familiar words started unearthing themselves. Luckily, I'd taken Japanese as a language elective since 4th grade. "_What country are we in?_"

Kurama looked utterly confused and told me we were in Japan. I felt a little knot form in my stomach and decided it was best to keep my strange situation, and hallucination of anime characters, to myself. Heck, maybe it was a dream. Instead I asked him, "_Do you know where I can find a police box?_" And then as an afterthought, "_I'm Midori_."

Kurama smiled a little at my backwards introduction, "_Traditionally you'd give your name before asking information. And I'm Minamino Shuuichi._" OMFG!!! His name's even the same!!!! I shook my head of that and focused on his next sentence. "_If you're lost I do know where a police box is but if you just need information I might be of assistance._"

I narrowed my eyes, tempting anime boys were never a good thing. And I'll be darned if I were to be tempted in this situation. "_Helpful, how?_" I asked suspiciously. I don't know if it was something about how I said it or my expression, but he laughed and said, "_Don't worry, I won't try anything._" He seemed bemused; I flushed instantly feeling stupid. "_Well, since that's been cleared_." I mumbled, knowing he could hear me, "_Lead the way_."

**That's it for chappie 2!!!!!! Please R&R if you liked or have suggestions!!!**

**Language Notes**

Sorry, I don't speak English.

Excuse me, are you ok?

Wait a minute!!


	3. What The Flipping Fudge

**First off to Kittenn1011: Thanks for your review I liked the idea of the eng in italics, and you're right that'd make more sense, I just had it flip-flopped for this one chappie and I think with the rest I'll follow what you said. I just wanted the whole 'English' thing to get through first. As for questions regarding her intelligence; I realized it at first seems stupid that she didn't ask the woman; but keep in mind she was suffering from shock. By the time Kurama came around she knew she'd be asked things in Japanese, the first time she was expecting English so that kinda freaked her out. Plus by the time he came she'd gotten it out of her system by taking it out on an unsuspecting phone! o Anywhozits, I hope I cleared that up for you? And for the rest of you plz enjoy the story!! XD**

I was never one to buy into celebrities. In fact, if I ran into one (which happened twice) I usually forgot or didn't know who the person was. So, being near Kurama wasn't exactly what was so amazing about walking down the street with him. First off, it was looking at the scenery and just _knowing_where we were headed even though I'd never been there. I remembered the current street from when Kurama, Botan, Genkai that unimportant psychic with the yellow hair and coat talk with that smart guy from Kurama's school and his friend about the whole 'demon portal' thing. Ok, so I was a nerd for watching that enough to memorize the street, but at least I didn't know the unimportant guy's name! And well… I never really cared for Kurama's classmate either. I actually kept forgetting it was _the_ Kurama next to me. After 15 minutes of chatting with the guy my brain had replaced him from 'idol of fan girl worship' to 'a pretty cool guy'. I was super glad I knew a little more about him than the average stranger though, seeing as the streets were getting less and less crowded as the sky started to grey. I mean if it was anyone else I think the situation would freak me out, but knowing the way also helped mellow me out. A drop of water shook me from my rambling, well that and Kurama's voice. He stopped and murmured so lightly I wasn't sure if it was to me or to himself, "Seems like it will rain soon." As if to confirm his words another drop of water plopped onto his outstretched hand.

"Is that good or bad?" I asked, jokingly adding, "You're not afraid of getting your hair wet are you?"

He smiled teasingly at me and said, "Not anymore than you would be." Not one to get off track he also added, "It is a good thing for the plants. It hasn't rained in a while but we should be careful not to catch a cold."

"Yeah, hard to save yourself from illness in such a _terrible_ downpour." I said with a roll of my eyes and because karma loves me those exact words triggered a full out sprinkle. I heard Kurama snort lightly and I had to resist the urge to slap his shoulder. Stupid know-it-all.

By the time we reached the police station, it was down right pouring. Not that I really cared that my backpack and clothes were soaked, but man I hated the wet sock feel. Kurama was trying to discreetly rid himself of water, while I just shook my head like a wet dog. Of course, Mr. Policeman wasn't too happy about that, but whatever. I walked up to the little cherry wood desk that ran parallel to the blue walls until it hit a 4 foot gap for a mini door to placed, deterring guests from entering 'behind the scenes'. I gave a catty shake of my foot, very ladylike I'm sure and sprayed a few more drops of water onto the charcoal tile floor before I was comfortable enough to talk to the happy policeman. Tuffs of his chestnut hair poked out at just about every angle from his police hat and he was wearing the stereotypical blue uniform. I assumed he was glaring from the narrow slits his eyes became, but to me brown eyes and glares never fit so it was easy to ignore.

I took me a few minutes to think of something to ask something. I hadn't thought about it much since my run in with the fox; who by the way was politely waiting in the back of the small office staying in the entryway so as not to drip, a courtesy I'd ignored. Of course the first time I'd said something I forgot my Japanese momentarily and asked him, "Hotel where it is."

I corrected myself and he seemed to lighten up a little, I guess my rudeness was more tolerable in a foreign package. But what could I have done?? I didn't _plan _on wetting his police box.

Anyway, he finally told me best places to find a _cheap_ (very important as I'm low on cash) hotel. I also got a few maps of the city, bus schedules… standard stuff in case I was stuck**. **Then I said the one thing I shouldn't have. I completely forgot I was in the presence of a reincarnated demon, who juuuust _might_ get a little curious with the tiny tidbits I gave the policeman. That and he was a fox of all kinds, damn the cunning. So I just _happened_ to ask about crime rates and just _happened_ to ask about average length of a plane ride and if Japan was before or behind America. (It was before, like flying into the future thus making what happened even _more_ impossible.) Then that big old brain of his clicked, he bought an umbrella (something I vehemently refused when he offered to buy me one, I don't take handouts) and we both left the police box. Worst and most infuriating was how he got the information. Here's how the conversation worked:

"Did you get everything you needed?" Kurama asked as we stepped outside. I was momentarily lost in his pink polka dot umbrella; the only kind left, and hadn't noticed he'd even asked me something until he cleared his throat. "Oh!!" I gasped, finally realizing that I hadn't imagined the wind speaking to me. It was Kurama, who's question I did not know. He sighed and asked again, I shook my head to clear it up, then nodded. "Yeah, it was great." I mumbled, my enthusiastic response (or it was supposed to be) it sounded like I'd just watch someone turn my cat into sushi.

"I see…" Kurama sounded slightly disappointed (I now know the little badger thought I'd slip up and say something else at the time) then his brain went into overtime and before I could notice the pause he asked, "Did you have trouble with someone at the subway?"

"What do you mean?" The me of 30 minutes previous foolishly asked and that was all Kurama needed to rip apart my defenses. "Well," He began with something little by saying, "You seemed very distracted, flustered even, at the time." Then he added after I'd let that sink in, "And you'd asked about crime rates so I wondered if you were missing an item…"

At the time I'd ignored it, but Kurama's eyes had quickly flashed to my face to see how I'd digested this.

"Wha…? Oh!!" I started laughing stupidly as I was pulled into his web of fluffy, foxy deception. "That's not it! I just was all freaked out cause I was just in Cali awhile ago and now I'm in Japan! And I was only out for like a day or… oh… oh shit." I stomped my foot and bit my lip. What the hell?? I just entered my happy rambling mode! Why?! I could feel his triumph rolling off him now. How'd he know I was ridiculously gullible and chatty? Oh, crap… I'm a blonde… right.

"What the hell?" I yelped. Kurama smiled at my reaction and asked, suddenly confused what exactly I meant about being in California.

"No!" I stomped my foot again, "I know what you're trying to do you conniving little…." I trailed off because I didn't want to say 'fox'. "_Person_!!" I spouted for emphasis. Hey, I didn't say fox!

"And what am I trying to do?" Darn him and his ability to predict blonde brainwaves. As he probably known I would I instantly responded with, "You're trying to get me to tell you that I was knocked out by a soccer ball and just woke up here!!" I accused like the blonde moron I was, relized it and yelled, "Stop that!! What the hell man!!"

Ok, the whiny tone and my act was too much for Kurama. His polite laugh was gone and he burst out into a full out laugh. Snort included.

"I-I'm sorry…" He giggle, my face turned red. I already knew what the answer would be but since I'd already pretty much destroyed any dignity I held I spouted out, "What the hell's so funny??" Of course this made him laugh more and being the harrumphy 15-year-old toddler I am, I squealed, "Fine then!! I'm leaving!!" And I pivoted on my head and stomped out from under the little umbrella.

The downpour pelted me for all of 20 seconds before Kurama grabbed my shoulder and apologized. _Looks like the hyena managed to control it… _I thought, still a little sore at being laughed at.

"You asked the policeman for a list of hotels." Kurama continued, "Let me make it up to you."

"And how's that?" I asked stupidly.

And that, my friends, is how 30 minutes later Kurama had successfully dragged me to his house, with only 2 minutes of amazing swearing annoyance. This was in my head though as I don't like to use harsh swear words towards people and did not know how the say 'What the flipping fudge' in Japanese.

**Ok, cause I'm lazy I'm cutting off here. Hope you guys liked it!! Plz review ppl! Oh, and there was something important I wanted to say but forgot so… I guess I'll see you guys next weekend or when-eves I update… **


	4. Bath Time

**Remember folks, confusing as is Kurama's bro is also called Shuuichi, so you'll have to really think on your toes and of course Midori calls Kurama; Kurama in her thoughts so that should help a little. **

I'm certain a world of trusting others is better than anywhere else. Call it naïve if you will, but the second I stepped into their living room I felt calm. Like I'd just had a big cup of hot coco and the warmth was coursing through me. Shiori was incredibly kind and didn't pester for answers, though little Shuuichi was a little bit of a bugger. I felt linked to them right off the bat, I guess now I get why Kurama loves them so much; 5 minutes and I already felt like I'd known them my whole life. Like I was the neighbor kid who came over after school to play; as if an adopted part of the family.

Dinner was uneventful, I guess you'd say, although I can't help but say it was the highlight of my day. Shiori's homemade food was amazing, she'd made rice and miso; a kind of pork dish that I politely declined. I don't eat other animals, so I stayed with safe plant foods, like the seaweed salad and grilled veggies also with a bit of miso on them. I have to say; though I don't know if it was Shiori's expertise or if it was always this good; that the Japanese really know how to eat.

The chatter around the table at first centered around me with standard questions such as likes, where I was from, and other things. I stuck to safer questions only fleetingly saying in one sentence I was from California before bulldozing onto sports. They seemed content hearing about stories like that anyway and much to my delight; Shuuichi had a passion for soccer just like my own. He'd actually suggested that we play tomorrow afternoon; his day was cut short because it was Saturday. I happily agreed, ecstatic when he told me he could bring his friends to join. I chose to ignore the nagging in the back of my head once I realized it was Friday night, thus earlier the exact same day I conked out. I couldn't help but ball my fists a little at that but it was hopefully unnoticed to a pair of probing green eyes on my side. It seems something about my presences had been worrying the redhead, and he'd been watching me like a hawk through out the meal. Not that I cared really, it wasn't one of those shiver down the spine stares so I guess it was ok with me.

Luckily just when it was his turn to say something Shiori, my hero, asked him about school and how he was feeling and such. While she was asking him, Shuuichi and I managed to sneak out of the dining room. Once both our dishes had been loaded into the dishwasher we headed up to his room, huddled over as we ran past the dining hall again. It was pretty fun actually, like two naughty kids trying to escape punishment or simply playing 'spy'. We dashed up the stairs and simultaneously looked over our shoulders before running down the narrow pale blue hall. To the right of the stairs was a fairly long hall with one door facing out and another a few feet from the other placed perpendicular to the stairs. The way Shuuichi led held 3 doors; two on the right and one on the left. At the very end of the hall was a small mirror hung above a cherry wood table with a corresponding blue vase atop it. I caught a good glimpse of myself as I passed the mirror into Shuuichi's room; located on the farthest right, and decided I needed a bit of cleaning up later.

Shuuichi's room was a bit cluttered; a few magazines dashed upon the floor complimented with pair-less shoes and lone socks. Posters of Japanese soccer stars and a girl or two hung upon his warm grey walls above his unmade navy bed, comforter on the floor.

"Do you like video games?" Shuuichi asked as he advanced to the left side of his bed pulling out a game system. I now noticed there was a small TV placed upon his dresser for such a purpose. "And who doesn't?" I rolled my eyes playfully like it was terribly obvious. He laughed and I walked over to him, "So what do you got?"

"Everything, check it out." He said smugly, gesturing to the titles. Indeed he did. He had everything from kids adventure games to those half-dressed girl-wrestling games. I jokingly suggested playing one of those, he laughed and agreed. Actually it was pretty fun and my 'Herculean Cat Woman' beat his 'Thunder Hawk' like seven times in a row; awesome! It was pretty cool that he was unembarrassed to show me his wrestling game, and even better that he felt free enough to argue with me about my win streak. After I beat him a few more times, Kurama popped his head in and told me the bath was ready; unfortunately Shuuichi couldn't hid the game in time and got heavily scolded. I couldn't help but laugh at that but decided to spare him and asked Kurama for some help finding my way; pretending I'd forgotten the tour he gave me earlier.

"Of course I would." He answered pleasantly, sending a quick parting glare at his brother before following me. We walked back down the long blue hall to the wall directly on the end of the other hallway. "Here is the bathroom," He told me, "And don't forget your room is next to little Shuuichi's." I giggled at Kurama's annoyed yet affectionate tone as he said his brothers name and I couldn't help but say, "Maybe he's not so little anymore." Kurama scowled and told me, "I fear that may be true."

I could tell there was something else he wanted to say but suddenly, for just a split second he went rigid. Then he smiled and entered to room next to us, apparently his room, and went in. I was a little confused with that sudden approach but shrugged it off and entered the little bath. It was covered in white tiles and a small cypress bath stood in the corner, maybe twice the size of an American bath. There was also a small showerhead poking out of the wall, probably for rinsing off and such. I shrugged out of my black tee-shirt, frowning at the ripped sleeves but decided it was still wearable, then shimmied out of my jeans too.

I put my clothes in the small laundry hamper before turning to the body length mirror placed next to it.

I had to admit, I looked pretty damn terrible. My long blonde hair was tangled with a few leaves stuck in the layers. My light blue eyes had turned navy, probably with exhaustion and my peaches n cream skin tone had turned grey and blue in many places. I even had a bump from that stupid soccer ball hidden under my bangs. I sighed and took off my bra and panties to check my more sensitive areas. My butt was fine, save a nasty bruise from falling out of the tree and so were my breasts. I cupped my boobs for a second; glad to have a normal sized pair. I'm sure I would've bruised them too if they'd been anything more than a 'B' cup. I shook my head and walked over to the showerheads, not bothering to wait for the water to warm up; I drenched myself in freezing water. I grabbed the soap with more force than necessary and yelped, forgetting those damned fingers again.

"Today's just not my day…" I moaned, holding the mangled digits up. They hurt, but looked a little bit better.

After that it was a little awkward bathing, seeing as one of my hand was out of commission and there was just no way I'd ask Shiori for help. This was her time to relax, not fuss over my minor injuries. At last I gave up with scrubbing, slapped some shampoo on my head, drenched myself and jumped into the bathtub.

I could fool around all I wanted with Shuuichi or Kurama to keep my mind off things but here, all by myself, I had to fess up.

_This is not happening…_I thought in despair, slinking deeper into the tub submerging my nose. I exhaled heavily; imagining that each of the bubbles I created was a problem of mine and then, with a sweep of my hand, they were gone.

_Like that'd happen… _I thought critically. Just what the hell was I supposed to do? I was a 15-year-old girl trapped in a foreign country; an imaginary version of a foreign country! How the hell could I have actually met Kurama? Maybe it was pure coincidence that his name was Shuuichi Minamino. And a twist of fate his family held the same names too?

Once again, impossible. There's no such thing as a coincidence anyway, more realistically it was a dream. I grabbed my finger and bent it back; _hard_. I watched, wincing, as blood budded on the finger and a white bone showed ever so slightly at the knuckle. A dream I could feel pain in…. not one of my better fantasies.

"Dammit!!" I yelped, splashing my hands down; forgetting Kurama next to me. I gasped and covered my mouth with my good hand, while I soaked the crippled digits on my other, listening intently. Did he hear my outburst?

I listen for a few more seconds. Just as I was about to release my breath, I heard something. A soft, deep murmuring I didn't recognize followed the fluid murmurs of Kurama.

Quietly, I pulled myself out of the water towards the white tiled wall dividing Kurama's room from where I currently was. I pressed my ear up against the wall and closed my eyes, focusing on the sound. I don't know how long I waited, it felt like ages, but finally someone spoke.

"I had no intention of pressuring you…" I heard Kurama's velvety voice, seemingly amused, telling whoever else was in the room.

"No, of course not fox." A curt, impudent murmur so low I had to shove myself completely against the wall to catch.

"Hiei…don't be like that…" Kurama coaxed, attempting to amend for whatever I had missed earlier. I felt blood pulse to my head and drain out just as quickly, leaving me dizzy and anxious. _Hiei!!_ My mind raced wildly, trying to piece together what was happening on the other side. The sharp, metallic sent of blood brought me back to my senses in a hurry. My finger has lost too much blood, and it was beginning to drip down my arm. I sighed, agitated at the stupid injury for making me miss what would next be said.

I pushed myself off the wall and grabbed a towel. Once I felt dry enough, I shoved on the pajamas and undergarments Shiori had provided me. For my finger I found my already ruined tee-shirt sleeve and put it back on. Good enough for me.

I held myself still for a few more minutes, hoping to hear more, but the room was silent. Annoyed, I turned and walked out of the bathroom, only to find the hallway dark. _How long was I in the bath?_ I wondered, looking over at Kurama's door for a second. I _really_ wanted to know what they'd been talking about but decided it best to leave it and headed down the hall. I managed to remember which one was the guest room and before I knew it I was asleep.

**Sorry if this chapter was a little slow… I promise it'll pick up soon!! Anyway, questions, comments or maybe even stories? Lol, juuuust kidding. If you like plz review!! **


	5. Trouble

"Oi!! Pass it to me Shuuichi!!" Messy black hair and tall lean muscles streaked across my line of vision as I called for the ball. Shuuichi had gotten stuck in a running triangle and my call gave him enough of a push to break out to make the pass. The black haired boy tried to steal the pass from me, but that was his mistake. Seeing as he was only a year or two younger than me I saw no need to hold back so I kicked out as hard as I could. I dove down into my kick and skidded into the ball, successfully sending the black haired boy head over heels into another person on the opposing team.

I swiftly jumped out of my crouch and headed up the field, by the time the boy had gotten his wits about him I was already 10 feet from the goal. I vaguely heard Shuuichi's panting next to me as I aimed for a goal kick. The ball gave a satisfactory thump as I smacked my foot into it, sending it whizzing past the astonished goalie's ear. A smug smile swept across my face and I crouched down to catch my breath.

"Goal!!" Shuuichi's scream startled me so much I nearly fell over, I let out a nervous laugh and pushed myself in upright position. "So what are we playing until again?" I asked, looking over at our scoreboard. Nine to one; not bad, but I was pissed I let a ball get through me.

"You already won." The black hair boy said sourly, crossing his arms across his chest. "We only play to nine."

"Well that's a little odd." I joked, Shuuichi giggled but the boy wasn't amused, narrowing his brown eyes into slits. Once again, brown eyes held no glaring credit whatever, but it still kind pissed me off. Spoiled sport. I sighed, and stuck out my hand, "Good game." I offered.

The boy just huffed and walked away, not giving my hand a second glance. Little punk. "Why that spoiled…" Shuuichi patted my arm into place and sighed, "Forget it." He said, "That's Ushiro Taro, real jerk but good player."

"I can tell…" I ground out. So I beat his team into the dust, he didn't have to play the hate game. Besides, everyone _else_ had fun playing.

"So," I said, tearing my eyes from the twerp's retreating figure. "What now?"

"We could head out to eat." Another black haired kid suggested. This one was shorted than Taro with a light spray of acne covering his pale face. I have to admit I felt a little smug that my 5'4 inches was taller than his 5'2 along with several other boys.

"Hm…I dunno…" I sighed, "I needed to go check out some more apartments…I didn't find to many this morning…" I shrugged my shoulders like it didn't matter and added, "That, and I also like to explore some."

"We could show you around!!" This time, it was brown hair tied to a milk chocolate skin tone. Dammit, he was about an inch taller than me!!

"I'll have to pass on that." I said with a wave of my hand, ready to leave. I felt there was beginning to be a little more testosterone than I was comfortable with. "I'll catch you guys later, ok?"

An all too eager chorus of 'ok's slaughtered my backside as I turned to walk away. Hanging with Shuuichi was cool and all, but his friends were just a little too much for me to handle.

After I'd turned several corners, I began to pick up my pace. 'Walk with a purpose', my friends always laughed whenever I walked too fast. I'd learned to slouch into each step to restrict my speed, but now, with no one around or item to carry, I went straight into my fast walk. I guess you could say that unless I was on the edge of a run I didn't feel comfortable.

I kept my eyes focused straight ahead, barely noticing the faces, looking only with my feet. Sad to say, I missed many pretty sights whenever I walked alone due to this, but I never seemed to get lost as long as I was on my feet. I guess that's and even trade. It was like a trance, as soon as it was just me and only me my mind would go blank. No daydreaming, no thoughts; I just _went_. My brain subconsciously telling me everything needed.

My pace quickened even more and before I even registered that I'd entered a forest, I took off running. I can't even describe to you the joy and yearning I had whenever I subconsciously ran like this. I went deeper into the forest, registering only the vivid colors and smells as time was put on standstill. And then, I dropped to the ground. Fire burned deep in my lungs as I gulped in the air, spreading my legs and arms out like a starfish and laughed; hard and loud, each note echoing off a tree.

I closed my eyes and took another deep breath, just letting the wind wash over me. For how long, I don't know or care. I simply stayed until I felt content, then pushed myself into a sitting position to get a good look at where I landed.

I was obviously in a forest, lush vegetation surrounding the grass I sat on in every direction. It seemed as if I was in a small, circular clearing. Flowers of all colors bloomed around me, and the redden rays from the sun sent the grass sparkling like a deep sea. I swear I could have stayed there forever breathing in the sweet sent but as things would have it, I didn't get the choice.

I noticed a change in the scent around me a few minutes after I'd pulled my knees to my chest and begun to focus on the wind's rhythm. At first it was a vague, slightly too sweet aroma not unlike gasoline swirling in the background. But as I focused more on the scent, the more unpleasant it became. First like burning roses, then smoking machinery and soon death.

A thick smog of corpses and blood clogged my nose, gagging me. It was so bad; I had to get up on my wobbly legs, just so I could double over. I instinctively cupped my hands over my nose and mouth; attempting to focus on my breathing.

Behind me; I heard a deep, scratchy voice say something mockingly in a foreign tongue. I'd place my money on Japanese, but the scent was so strong there was no possible way for me to comprehend what was said. I shook my head and tried to form a coherent sentence myself, but I ended up gagging on the first syllable. I inhaled through my mouth as deeply as it was possible and spun around to find the source.

Oddly enough, what I saw wasn't some heinous monster, but a beautiful little girl. She worn a small, purple kimono; slightly torn at the ends and minor burns singing the fabric, with no shoes. Her long black hair was falling down around her body, covering her face and her small body was hunched slightly in a bow, hands folded politely in front.

My first thought was that the smell was making me hallucinate, but suddenly the girl pulled out of the bow so quickly her head went limp as if unable to support the weight. I gasped and gagged again upon seeing her beautiful, tear stained face. Her eyes were torn from the sockets and blood continued flowing from the holes like tears; her mouth was set in a wicked grin with nearly all but a handful of teeth rotted out.

"_Come with me…_" The eerie, deep voice sent shivers down my spine as the girl held out a limp hand. The fabric on her sleeve fell back to reveal a charred arm and rotting flesh. I force myself to look down at her black feet, that didn't even touch the ground. She floated in front of me, like a puppet on strings. This girl was not alive, she was mere bait, and someone was hoping I'd bite. Now I don't think I've seen enough zombie movies to know much, but I remembered that almost everyone of them required destroying the head in some way. Via, hammer, toliet, match box or other zombie head.

So, taking a huge breath and holding it in, I let go of my nose and took a defensive crouch. Using the knife of hand technique I'd learned in Jujutsu, I slammed my hand down into the girl's skull. It crumpled under the strike like a rotten pumpkin, sending the corpse to the ground and scattering her wreched scent everywhere.

"Oh my god!" I gasped, gagging again as the smell hit me again. Grabbing my stomach as I crouched to the ground. I could feel my body heave, ready to rid myself of my breakfast but I managed to choke it down. I heard a gruff chuckle from the shadows and realized the sun had already set.

"What a sensitive nose you have…" The voice laughed again, and I managed to push myself back up. I'd had more than enough and I knew I couldn't stomach this for much longer so, I took of running as fast as I could. I don't mean to brag, but that's pretty darn fast. I'd been to nationals in track and won several times, although I don't know how I'd rank against my cryptic friend.

The wind whipped past my ears, as I could feel the nausea passing as I got a healthy dose of clean air. I pumped my arms and willed myself to go faster as I tried to ignore the taunts chasing me, claiming I wouldn't escape. I suddenly started feeling sick again as my temperature started to rise. _My worst and most useless trait; overheating, just might literally be the death of me._ I thought critically as I felt the overflowing temperatures fatiguing my body twice as fast as it would had I been running at a normal temperature.

_Shiiiiit!! _My mind screamed as I lunged into a crouch and threw myself up into the trees. Maybe, by some miracle, that thing couldn't climb trees. _And maybe by some miracle, I won't break my ankle. _My more negative side pointed out, unhelpfully, that I'd never even attempted jumping through trees when it was this dark out.

I never thought much about how far I subconsciously took myself when exploring until this moment. Now, at my top speed, I felt like I was going nowhere. Like I'd been running for hours instead of minutes, or maybe it was hours. How far out did I go exactly? I focused on such trivial things to calm myself and was so deep in thought I nearly lost track of what was happening.

Like lightning, a hand suddenly shot out of nowhere, grabbing me around the mouth to prevent screams, and pulled me into the shadows. Struggling didn't do any good, whatever grabbed me was so strong, and I was too worn out to react at all. It was over.

**Yay!! Lookie!! It turns out I was able to update this week anyway!! Sorry it's a little late though! If you guys like, please review ok?? Thankies!! **


	6. Follow Your Nose

"Utter a single sound and your life is forfeit." Ok, weird as it sounds, the second I heard that I relaxed instantly. Struggling stopped and heart rate decelerating. The whole package deal. What the hell is wrong with my head; you may be asking. Well, I'll tell you what's wrong upstairs. Those threatening words were spoken in a voice I'd known so well that no matter what the situation or what was said I'd feel at ease. Deep, clean cut and soothing was all I could say to describe it. Every word held a purpose and a secret meaning; it was none other than the voice of one jagan wielder.

I titled my head up to catch a glimpse of my captor. His bright crimson eyes seemed to glow in the darkness and the confusion hidden in them jumped out like it was tangible. If he'd been the type, I'm sure he would have cocked an eyebrow. I'm sure he was a little miffed that such a threat could calm anyone.

I could feel his body heat pulsing against my own and realized that I was at a bearable temperature once again, despite being pinned against his too warm chest. I had to bite back a sigh when the wind ruffled his midnight hair, throwing around the white tuff in the center, stirring up his scent. Defiantly a much-needed breath of fresh air compared to the stench of the corpse.

His deep, red eyes probed into my blue ones; searching almost. Finally, a noise in the brush tore his eyes away from mine and I found myself releasing a breath I didn't know I'd been holding.

He narrowed his eyes and stood up; freeing me from his grasp and slightly rattling the long sword perched on the side of his black attire. "Stay here." He told me, not even bothering to look at me or wait for a response, and jumped into the brush himself. Upon his disappearance, I felt my uncomfortable heat reappear. I also felt a swirl of resentment and pride swell up in me for a second. Sure it was _the _Hiei saving me and a demon he was fighting but I didn't want to be a helpless princess. I hated that feeling of uselessness that passed over me when I heard a cry in the distance.

I grabbed a chunk of bark and pulled myself up; scanning my surroundings for Hiei or my stalker. Stupid as it sounds, I felt a little swirl of rage and jealousy as I looked for him. There was probably no way I could have defeated that creature, Hiei was saving me and yet I was enraged. I was a horrible person.! I should be thankful or happy or both; not enraged or jealous! That was just messed up. I knew it was pointless, but I did whatever I did when I felt like that and decided to 'punish' myself. I resolved that tomorrow I would train and _at least_ to a hundred push ups and handstands with my bad hand as well as my good.

Once again I was so absorbed in thought I wasn't paying too much attention to my surroundings; not my continually changing temperature dropping, or the fact Hiei was holding a head. It took me about two seconds to take in the green, ogre like head he'd thrust in my face and I'll bet my response was nothing like he'd expected.

"Omg!!" I gasped, nausea returning as I covered my mouth, "What the hell is that smell?!"

Hiei blinked, his red eyes confused yet again at my lack of fear. "I killed it." He said promptly as if to reassure me, that or like he was dismissing me. "That's great!" I gasped sarcastically, pushing myself against the tree to get away from the stench, "Mind getting rid of that stink bomb too?" Hiei frowned, but obliged. He tossed the head into the woods, and I swear I heard it splatter. I gagged again, trying to get a hold of myself as Hiei analyzed every movement I made. I held up a hand for him to wait a second as I gathered my bearings.

"God…" I muttered through my hand once I was certain I wouldn't throw up all over my savior. "Sorry about this, but thank you. Really, thanks." Of course Hiei could care less for my thanks and swiftly turned his head away with a classic 'hn'.

I decided that was all I was going to get out of him and despite his own smell; he couldn't cover the remnants of that _thing's_ scent, so I crouched down and jumped out of the tree. I have to admit that I just let myself collapse against the tree. Compared to that head, the ground was the god of all scents. I started to focus on the sweet smell again before I heard a little thump next to me.

Surprisingly enough, Hiei had followed me down and was leaning against the tree himself. This perplexed me, as I thought Hiei was the kind to mysteriously vanish after killing a demon, not worry about your sanity.

"Don't tell me you off'ed that demon to have me all to yourself." I teased, glad to have proper air to speak with.

"How can you be sure it was a demon?" Hiei asked, watching me. Was I really so alien? Kurama did the same thing.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend." I smiled, as long as it wasn't Kurama and I was in the mood, I was pretty good at mind play myself. I avoided his question and replaced it with one of my own, "Should I have said ghost? Or ogre? Of course the girl was and undead, maybe you'd prefer zombie?" I could feel a smile tugging on my lips as Hiei started to get annoyed.

"Call it what you will." He said curtly, "Just leave already." That one caught me a little off, why did he care? What happened to disappearing? "And if I don't want to?" I asked, putting my hands behind my head in a big showy motion, as if I was getting comfortable.

"If the troll wasn't enough fair warning to leave, you're dumber than you look." Hiei was defiantly annoyed, and I laughed. "Oh! So it was a troll then?" I asked, "Wouldn't have guessed myself." Hiei clenched his fist, "I don't care what it's called!" He angrily responded, clearly wanting nothing more to do with me and turned to leave. I caught him before he disappeared by asking, "Do I get the name of my rescuer?"

He stopped as if deliberating to answer before spouting out, "Hiei." Then he disappeared into the trees. Knowing he'd hear it I called after him, "Mine's Midori!" before settling back into place on the tree.

I know I should've headed back right then, but I just sat there for about half an hour taking I the mood, doing that weird subconscious thinking thing that even I myself don't understand. I finally pushed myself to my feet, grimacing in pain for yet again forgetting those dammed fingers, and took off leisurely for town. As I neared the town, I felt my pace quicken into a skip and a huge grin stretched across my face. First Kurama, now Hiei!! If this was a dream, it was a damn good one! I felt one of those girlish giggles well up in me and, unable to control it, I let out a scream. A huge, fangirly scream and twirled around on my toes. Then, so as not to be too girly, I jumped up into the air kicking my heel's together and punching a fist up for more momentum.

"All right!!" I shouted, sending several dogs into barking fits, before darting back down the street to Kurama's house. Skipping and jumping off walls, swinging around street signs too, in my excitement. A particular street sign I spun around pointed me in the direction of a small housing complex across the street. I caught a whiff of some incredibly sweet pastry and let my stomach lead the way.

It was a small brick building; a single black door at the top of brick steps and iron rails was the only entrance. At first I thought it was an apartment but the iron sign above it told me it was a café. The Cat Café, to be more specific.

I started up the steps and placed my hand on the cool, black iron doorknob. I marveled at the quality before entering, and gasped at the sight.

It was like any café I guess you'd say, although this was better in my opinion. Black lined the walls facing white slate tables, each of which adorned with a hand painted black cat. The floor was a checkered black and white tile and the walls were a deep sky blue, covered with clouds and little kittens painted in a constant play. There was a kitty clock to match above two cat shaped bath room doors in the very back.

The best part was the front; a plush kitten was place on either side of a mahogany counter above the large glass display cases. Each one was filled to the brim with a colorful assortment of cat shaped pastries that caused my mouth to water just by looking at them. However, cats weren't the only things, there was a number of fish, mice and yarn pastries too, along with cats playing with them. The wall behind the counter housed a large menu, with a cute picture of each treat or drink placed next to it. And the very best thing about it was the little sign placed next to the bell on the counter. Help Wanted. Could my luck be any better?

I walked up to the counter and rung the bell, almost instantly and elderly woman appeared in front of me. Her gray hair was pulled back into a bun and wrinkles covered her little face. Not surprising, she wore a purple sweater with a cat on it.

"Can I help you?" She asked, her old eyes crinkling into a smile as she looked me over. "Of course!" I enthused, practically jumping up and down with excitement.

"My, my." She chuckled, "Tell me before you burst, child."

"Are you still looking for employees?" I asked eagerly, leaning in slightly to hear every word of her response.

"But of course!" Laughter now, "How could I ever say no to such a charming young lady!"

"Really?!" I could feel my eyes sparkling. "Oh, yes! When can you start?" She asked and I nearly burst out of my skin. I got a job! Yes!!

"As soon as possible!!" I breathed, dizzy with joy. "Thank you soooo much!!"

She laughed again, "No thank you, m'dear. And I expect you here tomorrow at 9 o clock sharp!"

"Yes ma'am!! I'll be here!" I quickly remembered that I didn't get her name, so I asked.

"Call me Aiko." She responded lazily, "And you?"

"Tikoto Midori." I said with a little bow.

"So, Mimi-chan then?" She asked with a sly smile, and I smiled back. "Only if I can call you Ai-chan."

She laughed again, "Alright you, fine with me. Now, is there anything else you need?"

I patted my shorts pocket to make sure the 1000 yen Shiori gave me was still there, which it was. "Mind if I buy a little something?"

"Why not?" Ai-chan gestured to the menu, "Know what you want?"

"The chocolate cake, please!" I said gesturing to the cake on the top shelf decorated with a white kitten smacking a blue yarn ball.

"Coming up." She said grabbing it, along with a fork, and handed it to me. I reached for my pocket but she put up her hand, "You work here, right?"

I smiled, "Thank you, Ai-chan!" She returned the smile and I tilted my head to the booths, "Mind joining me?"

"I'll get some tea." She said with a wink and headed behind the little door.

Best luck ever!! I grinned to myself, setting my cake upon a table and shimmying into one of the booths. Ai-chan was out with the hot tea in a flash, the cup yet another cat themed item.

"So, tell me about yourself." Ai-chan said, sipping her tea leisurely and glancing out the window. "We don't usually get customers this late. Though it never hurts to stay open." She added the last sentence as an afterthought, winking at me again.

"I suppose not." I laughed, taking a small bit of my cake. "Yum." I said in surprise. I didn't knew it'd be good, but I didn't know it'd _that_ good.

"Special ingredient." Ai-chan promptly told me, a curve playing on her lips.

"I can tell." I said raising my eyebrows; she shook her head smiling. I took another bite, thinking, "Well, I'm from America. California to be precise."

"Must be hard." She sighed, "So far from home."

"It's not that bad." I smiled, taking up my tea cup and relaxing into the warmth. "I'm staying with a friend right now, who's awesome. But, I don't want to be a hindrance or anything you know? That's why I was out today."

"Ah, so you were house shopping?" She asked, and I could tell she had a hidden meaning in those words. I just couldn't put my finger on what.

"More or less, yeah." I shrugged. "But at the moment I'm kinda broke, so that's why I needed a job first."

"I see." She smiled again, I was getting pretty used to her now I think. Or so I thought. her next statement took me completely by surprise.

"It just so happens I have an old apartment linked to this building I don't use." Her eyes crinkling back up into an amused smile, "Mind giving it a little wear for me?"

**Chapta 6 done!! Ok guys, you better review!! And I shall go off to write more! Expect to see me next week! XD**


	7. Spread the good news

Upon returning home, I found Shiori and Shuuichi watching a movie on TV; leaving Kurama most likely studying in his room. I decided it better to tell them later as not to ruin their show and opted to find Kurama. I tip-toed past them and skipped my way upstairs; how could I possibly contain my excitement? I got a job and apartment all in one! Though I'll admit I'll be a little lonely since the Minaminos were pretty much the only people I knew here. Positive side, I could always visit so that wouldn't damper my mood. Even if that meant my adventuring with Kurama got even slimmer because of that, I didn't want to impose now did I?

I had to use my brain a little to remember which room was Kurama's before I figured it out and found myself bursting down the door, forgetting to knock as always. Well, what can I say? I'm a little sister, so that was kind of an expertise for me.

"Hey Shu-chan!" I called as bust in, fully expecting to find him frozen over a book or his homework. However, the sight in front of me wasn't exactly one I'd label as a disappointer. Kurama did have his homework out so I was right on that part, but he wasn't doing it. He was leaned back slightly in his chair, now facing me but I'd imagine just before coming in he'd been looking at the guest on his windowsill. I cocked an eyebrow slightly at Hiei, who averted his head quickly from my gaze; like a kid caught doing something he shouldn't have. Or maybe that was my imagination and I just wasn't worthy of his gaze. Probably the latter.

"Sorry," I muttered, pulling slightly at the hair settled on my back, "I didn't mean to intrude on anything. I can come back later if you want?" After hearing a section of their conversation last night, I admit I felt a little sheepish busting in. I would have gladly left the two in peace but Kurama, being the only one able to process the situation that quickly as my hand was still stuck to the door, quickly jumped into action. He was on his feet in a second and politely gestured to his bed, "No, that's fine Midori-chan. Please come in."

"Ugh." I rolled my eyes at the full usage of my name, I hated anyone other than authority figures using my full first name. Nicknames were fun; full names were not. It was that simple. "Come on, I told you not to call me that!"

"My apologies." He said with in a humored tone, mischief in his green eyes. I sighed in defeat, knowing he'd never follow my nickname rule, and flopped onto his bed pulling my feet together butterfly style.

"Yeah, you sound _real_ apologetic Shu-chan." I muttered, watching him sit himself down. Curious of what I'd interrupted, I asked, "So how exactly do you know Hiei-chan?" I heard him grunt at that so tilted my head in his direction and jokingly added, "More zombie slaying?"

Hiei head snapped towards me for a brief second before he went back to ignoring my unworthiness. Not forgetting the only person capable of a conversation, I turned back to Kurama. His eyebrows were knit in confusion and he asked, "Zombie slaying?" I shrugged, not really feeling like details and said, "Same old same old, nothing really."

"She was attacked by a mountain ogre." Hiei said, watching me again and ignoring my protest that last time he'd claimed it was a troll.

"I see." Kurama's cupped his hands together and rested his chin on it. Thinking pose maybe? "I suppose you're a little curious about that?" He asked weakly as if dreading my answer.

"Nah, not really." I shrugged again, then pulled my self up straight, "Unless of course you _want _me to be?"

"I told you she wasn't normal." Hiei put his hands behind his head; obviously I was boring him. "I don't know if it's shock or just her utter stupidity that's keeping her calm."

"Thanks Hiei, I think you're pretty amazing too!" I said cheerfully, deciding to take that as a backhanded compliment.

"Yes, well, I must admit myself that you don't seem very rattled by it at all." Kurama said; concern and worry had changed back to confusion and maybe a hint of amusement? "Are you sure you're all right?"

"Positive." I said, jabbing my thumb at myself, "Do I really look like the kind of girl who'd let a few little buggars like that get to me?"

Kurama smiled a little at my question, "I suppose not." He straightened himself back up into his chair, leaving his clasped hands on his knee, "But it would be a little more helpful if I had more than just looks to figure you out."

"I'm not exactly a one way puzzle, my piece change ya know." I said matter-o-f factly.

"I doubt it's that hard." Hiei snorted, so I smiled and asked, "Since you know the inner workings of my mind so well, why don't you tell me why I was hanging out in the forest today? God knows I don't."

Hiei looked completely and utterly confused; well, Kurama did too but then again what I said was pretty damn weird. So I decided to elaborate, "Just so you know, I think almost everything subconsciously so I don't know my own thoughts half the time."

Hiei's eyes flashed briefly to Kurama's before returning to me. I smiled. He narrowed his eyes and turned back to Kurama. "Handle her yourself fox." I suppose my insanity was too much for Hiei. He'd started to stand when he froze, staring at something. The bed? It was close to me but not me per say, his eyes were too adverted for that. "You're hurt?" He asked hesitantly, as if unsure whether to really give a damn or not. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and sighed, "Yes Hiei, I'm dying." Heavy sarcasm.

At Hiei's words I'd noticed Kurama's head snap up and give me a once over. My hand was hidden by my thigh so as not to become to conspicuous. I guess that worked the same as a limp in Kurama's mind and he asked me to see it. This time I didn't resist and rolled my eyes. "It's fine really." I sighed once I caught Kurama's determined look and began unwrapping the clothe bandage before shoving it in his face.

"See?" I asked, "It's fine." Ignoring the gasp from him, I was about to pull back my hand when his much quicker ones caught it. "Just what were you doing?" He asked completely taken aback, his overreaction even seemed to interest Hiei who was throwing side glances at my wound.

"Trees." I said with an irritated huff and tried to pull my hand back again, "It's really fine."

"This is most certainly _not _fine!!" I jumped and the sudden voice Kurama used. Mad? Worried? What the heck! I'd never seen him act like that, maybe when his mother was being stalked or Yuusuke died but this wasn't life threatening. I peaked down at the hand. Sure the two digits were mangled and horribly mutilated, it wasn't too bad… Ok, I have to admit even to my own eyes it looked pretty damn awful. The skin around the bone was browning in an attempt to scab over it, and the fingers were covered in purple and yellow bruises to the point the my normal skin tone disappeared. Oh, yeah, it was swollen too. That was totally my fault tho, if I hadn't yanked one of the fingers last night it'd probably be ok.

"You have to be more careful." I heard Kurama say with a shake of his head. Then he glared at me and pointed his index finger at the floor, "Stay here." He said strictly before he turned to get some medical supplies. Apparently I was the kind to run off to avoid treatment in his mind; which was actually completely true.

I sighed, and flopped out onto the bed like a starfish holding my injured left hand high above me. Being the OCD person I am, I started poking and picking at the fingers in a matter of seconds. Hiei walked over and simply smacked my right hand away.

"Ow." I said in annoyance, he hned. "Leave it be." His tone was pretty annoyed so I was really surprised when he sat down at the edge of the bed. I guess he was making sure I didn't mess with my hand again, I sighed, "It's honestly not that bad."

"It looks like it should be amputated." Hiei said coldly, crossing his arms across his chest and facing away from me.

"You never told me how you and Ku- I mean Shu-chan." Whoops, that was a little bit of tongue confusion. It was hard remembering Kurama as Shuichi especially in Hiei's presence.

"What did you call him?" Hiei glared at me. I quickly prattled out, "Sorry, I'm still used to English so it gets a little confusing at times. I accidentally put the question 'ka' in the center and my pronunciations pretty bad too." Then I looked up at him, using the full power of my innocent blue eyes and asked, "I didn't say something bad did I? Was that sentence to confusing?"

He snorted and said, "How Kurama and I know each other is none of your business." I sighed and agreed, "I guess that's true…" Hiei stiffened and glared at me again. Oops. I just acknowledged the fact I knew who Kurama was, so I hurriedly said, "By the way… who exactly _is_ Kurama? I thought we were talking about Shu-chan." Of course Hiei was not fooled, like anyone would be by that lame comeback.

"How do you know that name?" Before I had a chance to answer Hiei's lovely question, said conversation topic walked into the room. I groaned when I saw all the stuff he had. Antiseptics, bandages, some random herbs… So not fun. Hiei stood up again and flitted out the window, not even bothering to leave us with a parting phrase. Kurama sighed and said, "You'll have to forgive him, that's just how he is."

"Yeah, I figured." I mumbled back still annoyed at yet another of my blonde moments. With Hiei no longer keeping my mind off the topic, I managed to tell Kurama about my new living arrangements as he patched up my fingers. He seemed a little sad but was happy for me. Heck, I was a little sad too! But that just happens when you bump into such a sweet family.

"May I ask where this place is so I can visit?" He asked, and I pulled out one of the kitty-cat business cards.

"Got it covered." I said giving him one. He chuckled, saying he knew someone who'd enjoy such a place and that maybe they'd both come.

He finished wrapping my hand and sighed. With my hand still in his grasp I could feel his muscles tense as he opened his mouth to say something. I waited for what seemed like an eternity before he closed his mouth and released my hand.

"Shu-chan?" I asked carefully, he sighed and shook his head. "It's nothing," He smiled and stood up, "Goodnight Midori."

"K, night Shu-chan." I stood up taking that as my time to leave, gave him a quick hug and headed back to my room. I felt a small nagging feeling prickling the back of my neck. Now I _really_ wish I knew what Hiei and Kurama had talked about.

**Alright!! Because I love you I'm giving you two chapters in one weekend!! Yay!! But as payment do you guys mind giving me a little help? For any who've noticed my OCD changing the summary over and over then I'm sure you know why I'm all panicky. I gave this story the title it has because I was too lazy to think of one, go figure, but now I really want a proper title. (I'd given up the summary after the 4****th**** change) so does anyone have an idea for the title? Cause I freak out every time I see 'Ah Lazyness' (which isn't even spelled right!!) and it's seriously driving me insane!! Help, anybody?! Pleaseums?? **

**One more thing, just wondering what you people's take on my wonderful mastery of the English language is. I know I have a bit of grammatical errors and sometimes I ramble in the story so I want to know if that's bothering anyone or if anyone has suggestions on fixing that too? Thank you!! XD **


	8. Kitty Cakes Anyone?

**You people didn't even notice my rambling?! Oh, well I'm just insulted now!! Do you know how hard it is to make a good rant?! Just kidding! XD Glad to know my weirdness isn't spreading, watch out for my mental plague people!! XD Ohs, and cause I'm coolly weird like that I changed the title and summary again. Haha! I have OCD 4 the little things, I know… :P**

It was cute. Very. It had a tail too, and ears so my dream of having them was fulfilled which was good. Honestly though, I thought it was a smidge over the top.

I twirled in front of the mirror in the bathroom of my new apartment garbed in my new work uniform. It was a black and white maid uniform, apron included along with a cat ear headband and a tail. Both the ears and tail were blonde, my blonde, so it looked like the appendages were actually mine. I was honestly all too thrilled to be able to wear something girly; it was a rare occasion when I put on anything besides jeans and a t-shirt. Not to mention I can't remember the last time I wore pigtails; which sprouted out on either side of my head and flowed down to my butt.

The only thing I absolutely hated about the outfit was length. I'm a very conservative person so I don't like anything shorter than knee length, and mid thigh was defiantly shorter. Luckily though I'd convinced Ai-chan to let me wear white stockings and black shorts underneath. Just a precaution in case a mischievous wind attacked me.

I was a little unsure about the shoes, as I'd never worn heels, but with my sense of balance I could walk on a pole, so I decided I'd be fine. I bent down in the mirror one more time to make sure it didn't expose my shorts, which it luckily didn't.

My mind briefly flitted to this morning as I headed down the wooden hall to the restaurant. Shiori and Shuuichi were both upset about me leaving and made me promise to come by some time. Shuuichi was especially enthusiastic about playing soccer again, which I defiantly was looking forward to. Sadly I didn't get to say bye to Kurama, who was still sleeping at the time. Well, it had been like 7:30 and the poor guy had stayed up freakishly late studying, so it was only natural.

"There you are!" I heard someone bark from behind me. I spun around to find Ai-chan; today she was wearing an orange kitten turtleneck covered in flour.

"Hey, I was just heading out." I said, we'd already run over what I was to do so I was curious as to what she'd want.

"You can't just go out with four ears!" Ai-chan 'tsked' as if it was obvious. "Here." She thrust a little frilly maid headband at me, long enough to frame my face and cover my human ears.

"Thanks." I said, a little embarrassed she was encouraging this but thrilled at the same time. I loved cosplay, it was hella fun. With a nod she told me I looked cute before heading back to the kitchen.

For the most part the day was pretty slow, and I was able to handle all the customers myself, that is, until the after school crowd rushed in. I should have figured that it'd be a popular teen hangout. Almost every booth was filled it was so packed. That meant I had to do some waitress duties. I was to take the orders of people sitting in the booths and bring them food while Ai-chan did takeout. How she managed this on her own before, I'll never know.

"3 Café Meows and catnips." I said as I placed a 3 vanilla lattes and overly rich chocolate cakes on the table in front of 3 girls. They thanked me and squealed at my uniform, telling me it was so cute and how jealous they were. I felt pretty damn embarrassed at the compliments so I thanked them myself and made a hasty exit back to the counter. I went back through the little door to the behind the scenes coffee machine and fridge to get the next orders. As I passed Ai-chan she waved her wooden spoon she was using to make some other order, "You be careful missy; a couple guys just came in and I don't want any trouble."

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow. She tsked again, "I mean if they start eyeballing them you have my permission to whack them upside their heads!" She shook her head and sighed, "Don't want them giving you no trouble on your first day."

"I'll keep that in mind." I smiled and headed out, Ai-chan yelled after me, "Don't matter how cute they are don't give them your number! They could be hoodlums!!" I rolled my eyes and headed back out. Crazy old bat, did I really look like the flirting kind?

I plopped the orders on the two corresponding tables before heading to the back booths to take the newcomers orders.

"…and to think I thought you were girly before!" A slightly familiar voice sighed, "Jesus!"

"Oh stow it!!" Another familiar voice echoed back. "There's nothing wrong with a man loving cats!"

Ok, now I _know_ I'd heard a similar argument. I felt a twinge of expectation and a smile tugged at my lips as I heard the two boy's ridiculous argument.

"Hello." I said pleasantly upon arriving at the table. Two huge, chocolate brown met my stare for half a second and I felt my smile widen as the recognization set in. Slicked back black hair, slightly tan skin, lean muscles and his over whelming melted chocolate eyes. His partner was a giant in any countries standards; at least 6 feet but I knew it was precisely 6'3. His skin was fair, also tanned a little, his muscles much more prominent but I knew that was only a size façade and his carrot-red hair seemed to curl like sheep wool on the top of his head. Urameshi Yuusuke and Kuwabara Kuzuma.

"Can I take your order?" I trilled, excited to have met even more of the pack. I couldn't help but laugh at myself for not realizing that a cat infested place like would attract Kuwabara.

Yuusuke narrowed his eyes and placed his arm on the table to face his body towards me in a defiant posture, "What so funny?"

I laughed again unable to help myself. He raised an eyebrow, his frown deepening. Kuwabara elbowed him and laughed, "Maybe she's laughing at your stupid face, Urameshi!"

"Yeah, right! More likely you, ya ugly cat-addict." Yuusuke shot back snapping his head at Kuwabara, whose eyes narrowed as he reached across the small table and grabbed the collar of Yuusuke's green shirt. _Oh boy_.

"Wanna take this outside, punk?" Kuwabara challenged. I had to set my foot down there and smacked my hand on the table. The boys jumped back with startled crys as if I'd just shocked them. Maybe I had, mentally.

"No fighting!" I said glaring at them, "And if you must know," I added with a grin, "I was laughing at _both_ of your faces."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kuwabara grouched, Yuusuke laughed.

"I'd think you'd be used to it by now." He teased, Kuwabara growled at him to watch it, which I knew Yuusuke'd never do. He waved Kuwabara off with a 'yeah, yeah' before turning to me and demanding, "Are you gonna take our orders or what?"

"Depends. Do you _have _orders or what?" I shot back playfully. He grinned and told me in plain Japanese what he wanted, without the kitty crap. Kuwabara ordered using the cat names though and Yuusuke and I both snickered.

"Alright then." I said once I had it down, "Be right back with that. Play nice you two."

I shook my head as I headed back. I swear this had to be a dream; how else could I meet everyone so perfectly?

I would have liked to talk to them a little more but obliviously, being the waitress I couldn't really stop to chat anymore. I tried to concentrate on serving other customers and such but really who could focus in that situation?

After I delivered their food, I couldn't help but use my good hearing to eavesdrop. Maybe they'd talk about a mission, it'd make sense of Hiei's periodic visits to Kurama's. The first time it was raining sure but what about the second? Then again, I'd be just as happy hearing wise cracks or arguments, they were pretty entertaining like that.

"Um…miss?" I just realized I'd been looking at Yuusuke's and Kuwabara's booth again. I forced myself to pay attention to the small, glasses clad girl in front of me.

"Sorry! What'll you have?" I asked distracted slightly as I kept an ear aimed at their conversation, about going to the arcade later. I wonder if they'd be there long? Maybe after work…? I shook my said and just barely caught the girls order. Cake and tea.

Once again I wheeled around towards the kitchen, though a change in Kuwabara's half of the conversation caught me before I went back. I went behind the counter to avoid being seen by them and listened hard. I could only make out bits; there was so much noise to filter out but I caught the last half of his words.

"…notice anything fishy about her?" Who? What her? I couldn't make sense of Kuwabara's reference and Yuusuke was no help.

"Whaddaya mean?" Yuusuke asked. Yes, very helpful…

"I dunno, there's just something weird about her…" Kuwabara started to explain, "Like her energy's not right or something…?" It sounded like a question; he obviously doubted it himself. However, just what _did _he doubt? I concentrated harder until I could even make out their breathing. Yuusuke sighed… Kuwabara huffed, frustrated…

_Say something!! Why aren't they talking!? _Another huff and a quick breath from Kuwabara; like he was about to speak. I leaned back further… on the edge of my toes…

"Midori!!" Ai-chan's voice was so loud to me I nearly dropped the dirty dishes I was carrying with a startled yelp. "Get back to work!" She'd come out to give someone takeout and caught me lounging about, or at least I was in her mind. I flushed and quickly headed back; I was sure most of the store heard my stupid girly cry. So embarrassing. Shaking my head to rid my ears of their incisive ringing I began to steep tea and then I rushed back out at soon as I finished.

With a groan, I found Yuusuke and Kuwabara had left in my absence. Before you start thinking they ditched, Ai-chan informed me they didn't want to wait for me to finish the glasses girl's order and had paid up front. But why? I hadn't offended them had I? Or maybe they were to eager to play their games? I groaned when the thought struck that maybe the strange girl they spoke of might have been a demoness or something and they'd left to talk about it more privately. Damn, how I wish I knew!! One things for sure, the upside of watching or reading about them was that they never withheld information. In fact, more times than not the audience knew more than they did.

I kicked the air in dismay and when back to waiting tables, the very prospect of what they'd spoke about still haunting me. It pestered me the whole rest of my shift, but honestly, what kind of fan would I be if it didn't?

**Yeah, sorry its short. I was in a rush to get this out and didn't get to double check stuff so PLEASE tell me if I made some really major or annoying errors!! Also, I'd like your opinions on my OCD rampage. Do you guys like the new title and summary? And suggestions? Anywhozits! Thanks a ton!! Don't forget to read and review!! (Even tho u already read!) XD**


	9. Dark Rainbow Kisses

'Ello people

'**Ello people!! So, aywhozits, I couldn't update cause I have a life… yeah… sorry bout that! XD But seriously tho, I was at my nana's while my mum and dad were out of town so I couldn't really do anything… ******

The rest of the day ticked by sluggishly. As the final customers came in and out, I polished the tables and dishes while Ai-chan took orders. By the time we'd cleaned everything and closed up it was 9. Ai-chan promised me Sundays were the only day she needed full time help. She told me I could wake up whenever I wanted tomorrow and I was only needed for the 3 to 7 shift, leaving the whole day to myself. As I headed up the stairs to my new apartment, I contemplated plans. Upon entering the door, the only thing I was sure of was that I was going to take a bath. I stood in front of the dresser and shrugged, wondering what else could I do?

"Maybe I could go back to that forest…" I said to myself with a sigh, pulling off my blonde cat ears.

"I wouldn't recommend it." I spun around, surprised I wasn't alone. The force of my sudden movement flung me into the dresser behind me. I had to grab it to stop myself from falling over. Wide-eyed I searched for the intrusion and found Hiei sitting on my windowsill, wicked amusement in his eyes. "Don't hurt yourself." He said it without emotion, but I knew he was mocking me.

"Where the hell did you come from?" I gasped, pulling myself up. Then with a shake of my head I said, "Never mind. Don't answer that. But could you tell me what you're doing here?"

"Are you telling me to leave?" Hiei asked, as if me wondering what he was doing in _my_ room was absolutely none of my business.

I shrugged, not expecting a straight answer from him anyway, "Naw, you just surprised me." For emphasis I added, "A _lot_."

He smirked slightly as if pleased with himself. Then, quickly as it came, he abruptly swept it off his face, eyes serious. "Shouldn't you be a little concerned?" He asked. I felt stupid for asking, but I didn't have the slightest clue what he meant. So I asked, "Why?

"No reason. After all, someone breaking into you house is no cause for alarm." He stated sarcastically.

I laughed. "Hiei, I'm pretty sure your not going to rob or rape me. But…" I jokingly held up my cat ears, "If you ever go into cat burgling, I might be able to help."

"Hn." Hiei turned averted his head. He frowned slightly, like he was troubled or thinking hard. I decided he wouldn't say anything until I pushed his buttons a little. I grabbed a chair and flipped it around so it'd face away from the window, then I straddled the chair and sat down across from Hiei.

"So, let me guess," I flashed a grin when I saw his eye glance quickly over at me, then continued, grin still playing upon my lips, "You're here because you're seeking to rid the world of vampires, seeing as you've already drop kicked the zombies off the charts, and are in need of a spunky sidekick."

"Wrong," Hiei deadpanned, not bothering to look at me again, "I'm searching for Bigfoot."

"Darn," I muttered, delighted he'd responded and played along too. "Well, then, I suppose you're hear for information. I am a Bigfoot expert after all."

"Then tell me," Hiei turned his head so his gaze could brush my face, "What land does he come from?"

Ding-ding. Buzzer when off in my head. Now I got why he was playing around; he really _did_ want information. Trouble is, how'd he know I wasn't from here? _Kurama, probably._ I should've known he'd mention something, or not… why would he anyway? I shook my head, clearing my thoughts before Hiei's quick eyes could measure my reaction. I pretended to think.

"Well…" I said chewing my lip thoughtfully, "I know he's somewhere in North America."

"I thought he lived in the mountains." Hiei said dryly, he seemed annoyed at my lack of an answer. But then again, legends aren't the greatest basis for specific answers.

"No, no." I chided, "That's the yeti!"

"Ridiculous." Hiei scoffed. He whipped his back to face the window, as if spitting the word.

"It's common sense!" I mock gasped at his ignorance, "Shame for not knowing!"

Hiei glared at me. His eyes had reverted to a cold barrier and rage flickered around the edges. I couldn't quite grasp what had caused his sudden shift of emotion. Before I could question him, I suddenly felt my chair knocked out from under me. I gasped as I slammed into the opposing wall, rattled.

Hiei's hands tightened around my wrists and he held me firmly against the wall. He looked me square in the eye and spoke harshly, "I've had enough of your games. I want answers."

Despite the fact he was obviously threatening me, I felt myself blush and my heart quicken. Oddly enough, I didn't overheat like I normally would have being so close to another person. I remembered the last time he was so near to me the same thing occurred, though I didn't feel quite as smothered. I turned my head to soften the force of his gaze, taking a deep breath to calm myself. Positive I could control myself now that my lungs were full of air, I turned back to him.

"Now Hiei, that's not how we ask people." I said, another smile tugging on my lips. Humor had always been the best way to ease up a situation and I couldn't resist toying with him. I doubted that I wouldn't joke even if he had stuck his blade to my chin.

Hiei growled and he tightened his hold on my wrists. Obviously, he was trying to show me how serious he was and possibly cause a minor injury. It would have worked too, if it hadn't been for my abnormal pain tolerance and my desire to continued teasing him.

"Who are you?" He spat, eyes glowing with rage. "Why are you here?"

"I can be wherever I want to be." I said calmly then adding, "And I won't be answering anything with the attitude. How about the magic word?"

"Answer me." He growled, his pride probably wouldn't allow a little, yet still bigger than him, 15-year-old girl dictate his interrogation.

"And if I don't?" I questioned, a smile playing on my lips. I knew if I were to relent, he'd be the one dictating me. And, hey, I had my own stubborn pride to look out for.

"I can guarantee it won't be very comfortable." As if to illustrate his point, he forced me further up against the wall, nails digging ever so slightly into my wrists. Did he see me as a threat? I knew I was annoying him, which I was thoroughly enjoying, but no one ever had been slammed against a wall for that. At least, not until now. I'd noticed a strange tone in his voice, demanding and angry, yes, but something else too.

I gave up on deciphering his cryptic emotions and stuck to my own. I decided that I'd had more than enough excitement for a day and that I didn't like to be pinned to the wall without knowing what I'd done.

"Well, Hiei." I retorted, "While I don't think it will be uncomfortable, I can guarantee things are going to get very awkward if you don't let go of me. For you, at least."

"Do you really believe you're in any place to threaten me?" Hiei asked in a mocking tone. I smiled as wide as I possibly could and looked him right in the eye. "Absolutely."

Before he had a chance to argue with me or get further enraged, I did the only thing that I was positive would make him release me: I kissed his nose. As predicted, he shot back like he'd been electrocuted. In his haste he tripped and toppled onto my bed.

I laughed. He was completely wide eyed in shock, face ever so slightly red. He looked completely dumbfounded. I say good. That'll teach him to pin me to a wall, and damn did I even wish I had a camera. I'd never seen him so flustered and, quite frankly, it was the most adorable thing I'd ever seen.

"Wha-" Hiei pushed himself up onto his elbows grabbing his nose like I'd punched him. I struggled to hold in another giggle and failed. "What the hell was that?!" He gasped, glaring at me. Looks like he'd gotten over the initial shock.

"Well Hiei," I giggled, "That was a kiss." I made a little kissy face just for show and added, to discourage further wall pinning, "If you'd like to pin me up against the wall again I can show you what it feels like lip to lip."

Hiei glared daggers at me and snarled. I took that as a no. Needless to say, he didn't try to pin me again.

"Just what the hell are you?" He murmured, obviously still sore. We'd switched positions; Hiei leaned against the wall arms crossed, probably because the window was too close to where I was lying on my bed. I rolled over onto my stomach and cupped my hands under my chin, "If you really want to play twenty questions with me, you're going to have to say 'please'." I cocked my head, "Of course, I'd like to ask a few questions myself."

Hiei glared at me, deliberating. He knew forcing the answers from me wouldn't work and required him to get closer to me than he wanted after my unique escape technique. "Fine," He spat, "Tell me who the hell you are, before I run you through with my sword, _please._"

I smiled, satisfied. "Now was that so hard?" He 'hn'ed. I shrugged and answered his question, "Well, sorry to disappoint, but I'm Tikoto Midori. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Fine then. _What_ are you?" Hiei demanded, I glanced at him and he growled, "_Please._"

"That made no sense." I shook my head pretending to be appalled by his grammar. I taped my answer to the end of my sentence like he'd done with 'please'. "Human."

Hiei looked down momentarily distracted by my answer. What the heck did he expect? I obviously wasn't a demon, nor was I dead. And no matter how much I wished it, I was not a cute fluffy little animal. Thus human, or missing link which I'd be insulted to be called, were the only options left. Alien, I guess, but that's getting a little too far into detail.

"How did you get here?" He suddenly asked, distracted. I decided to let that one slip and answered, "Shooting star."

"What does that mean?" Hiei growled again, annoyed I was dancing around the question.

"If you want me to give you more answers then you'll have to let me ask a question." I said with a roll of my eyes. "Otherwise this is no better than interrogation."

Hiei kept his expression guarded, "What kind of questions?"

"That's for me to know as you to find out." I said, pushing myself off the bed. He tensed slightly when I walked past him, I quickly scooped up my notepad and pencil I'd left on the dresser then returned to the bed. "Ok." I said, pencil ready to jot down his answers. Come on, I'm still a fangirl at heart; I know you people would do the same!

"If you had the choice, which would you prefer; sweet or sour food?" I asked. Hiei looked taken aback, as if he'd been expecting some terrible or hard question rather than a preference.

"If it's sour, why would I eat it?" He demanded. I shrugged, "Some people like sour food, and I'm guessing your not one of them?" "No."

"Ok, I get one more then you can ask." I told him. Hiei held himself aloof as if he didn't care either way, but his eyes betrayed his impatience. I briefly wondered why he cared about getting my useless information before I shot another question at him. "Favorite color?" I pretty much knew the answer but decided to ask anyway, unable to pass up another opportunity to poke fun at him.

"I don't care or know." Hiei retorted, annoyed again.

"Pick one." I urged, he sighed.

"Black."

"I didn't know you liked the rainbow." I said smiling, Hiei demanded how exactly I came up with that. "Obviously black is _all_ the colors. It's like a dark rainbow!"

"Fine. My favorite color is dark rainbow." Hiei snapped, patience at an end for obvious reasons. "Now it's my turn to ask the questions."

**Cliffie!! XD Sorry! That's it for this chappie! I'm too tired to write more… nuewwwwwwws! Anywhozits, I didn't proof this chappie so plz tell me if there are any annoying mistakes!! And as always, plz review!! **


	10. Karma x 2

"Fine then." I sighed, flipping an annoying strand of hair out of my face. "What's your question?"

"When you arrived here by your… _comet_…" Hiei grimaced in annoyance as he said my travel means. I was honestly surprised by his next word, though, as I'd have expected him to demand what I had meant. "Where, exactly, did you land?"

"I didn't hear a magic word." I said slyly as I struggled to find a good way to answer. Finally, I gave up, decided on a one worded answer, and was able to respond as quickly as he spat the magic word. "Forest." I shrugged.

His eyes darkened slightly, as if something he suspected had been confirmed. "And what of the time? How long ago?"

I rolled my eyes and sighed, "Details, details…"

"Just tell me." He snapped angrily, cutting me off in mid-sigh.

"Well…" I bit my lip and lifted up my right hand to count the days, mumbling to myself in English, "_Lets see… Friday… so 3 days? Yeah_," I nodded satisfied and told Hiei in Japanese, "Three days."

"Time?" Hiei asked impatiently. I guess I forgot that part of the question.

"Um… probably afternoon, early evening…?" I questioned myself, finding it hard to remember the tiny details Hiei wanted. Unconsciously, as I always do with a hand or arm wound, I started picking at my left hand's bandages as I thought to myself. It was a nasty little habit specific to only when I was on a topic I didn't want to talk about out of shame or lack of answers. And I was definitely in an answer minimum.

"How's your hand?" Hiei asked. I could have imagined it but I thought the rough edge in his voice melted slightly as he spoke.

"Oh." I gasped, my right hand freezing as I realized I'd been messing with said wound. "Fine." I said curtly, then to discourage prodding I prompted, "It hasn't bugged me all day."

Because karma loves me, my weight accidentally shifted putting the full force of my body onto my hand. Not having a chance to ready myself for the pain, I yelped out of surprise. Hiei rolled his eyes as I pulled the hand to my chest. "You are a jinx, ya know that?" I muttered darkly. Then, being the idiotic masochist I am, I started poking my hand again. Muttering ow to myself every time a sharp pain ran through it.

"Leave it alone." Hiei sighed, then muttered to himself, "Why did I ask?"

"It's your own fault!" I said sticking my tongue out at him. "But now that you mention it, I probably _should _bandage it again…"

I was just about to get up when Hiei flitted into my bathroom, disappearing from my sight. I contemplated following him, but decided that it'd be better to give him space. Heck maybe he actually did need to use the toilet. In his absence, I unrolled my bandages.

"Whoa!" I was extremely pleased to find my fingers no longer swollen. While they still hurt like a mother, the bruises had mostly healed. The only icky part left was the horrendous scabbing and partly showing bone. All in all, it was defiantly an improvement. Just as I started to pick at the scabs (and I actually did pull one off causing it to bud blood) Hiei reappeared.

I only registered him leaving the bathroom before he materialized in front of me, slapping my right hand away from the wound.

"Ow." I protested.

"I said; Leave it _alone._" Annoyance and anger once again colored his voice and I wondered briefly if he had anger management or just a severe lack of patience. I didn't have long to wonder before Hiei grabbed my wrist, gaining another startled shriek from me. I tried to yank my hand back, but he wouldn't relent. With a sigh, he said, "I'm not going to eat it." Then quickly looked at the damage. I thought I saw him grimace, but, yet again, his superhuman speed baffled my slow eyes and before I knew what the hell happened he'd disappeared into the bathroom again.

I glanced down at my hand and found the injured digits neatly wrapped. Astounded I asked as soon as he reentered how he'd done it, but he only shrugged and told me he'd had practice.

I'm not too sure why, but he suddenly decided the window was yet again a safe place to sit. I shifted myself so we'd both face each other, dangling my feet over my bedside.

"Ok. Before you continue, it's my turn for questions." I demanded holding up my notes, he nodded as if he'd expected as much. "Do you have any siblings? If so how many?"

I watched him squirm slightly as he tried to avoid the question. "It's not relevant to you." He said it as if that would stifle my curiosity.

"So? I don't see how my arrival here was any of yours." I shot back. He glance at me with a look that seemed to suggest otherwise.

"Why do you want to know?" He'd turned himself away from me to look out the window.

"'Cuz." I shrugged.

"I have no intention of revealing anything to you." He said coldly.

"Ok, then I'll stop being honest with _my_ answers. Why should I reveal stuff to _you_?" I shot back, then softened, "Just answer yes or no." _Your reaction totally sold you out though…_ I trilled to myself, knowing he'd react this way. Why else would I want repetitive knowledge?

He hesitated; fists balled up until the knuckles turned white. "Yes." He ground out through clenched teeth, pure resentment in releasing the information. I smiled.

"K, now how many?" I continued, knowing I had him in the palm of my hand. Whatever he wanted to know about me was big enough that he'd tell me made me wonder just what I could possibly know? Of course, knowing he had a sibling and knowing it was Yukina was very different. I guess he'd would probably decided it wasn't worth it if I pushed too hard.

"One." He sighed, after confirming he actually had siblings, the quantity was much easier to voice.

"Cool. Now just one more question and its your turn." I trilled, "So, what's your favorite gemstone?"

"Tear gem." Was his curt reply.

"Huh, never hear of it." I shrugged, kind of hoping he'd say an actual gem like sapphire or such but expecting as much.

Apparently, Hiei'd been waiting to relinquish what he thought was important or personal information. When he asked me the next question he seemed very much at ease. And very determined too.

"Just how do you know these things?" Hiei hurried through his rhetorical question slightly flustered before I could give a witty reply, "Earlier when we spoke you almost called _Shuichi_," Loathing colored his tone as he said human name, "Kurama."

His eyes flashed to me as he waited for my response. "You also admitted to knowing who he was."

His second statement left me no room for maneuvering. "That's not a question." I sighed. I didn't want to relinquish any information on the topic, afraid I'd confirm it to be a dream and wake up in the forest, soccer ball at my head.

"How and what do you know about him." Hiei paused before adding, "And myself."

"Well," I perked up slightly at the new loop hole, "I know enough about you to know you hate sour food, have a sister, and enjoy dark rainbows."

His eyes flashed dangerously as he tried to calm himself into remaining still. He gripped the windowsill so hard I feared it would break. "I…" He spoke no more than a whisper, venom dripping from the words. "Never said I had a _sister_."

"You didn't?" I shifted uncomfortably as I realized my flub. I _hated _being blonde! I'd been so thrilled with a loophole I'd forgotten to watch my mouth; which was no better than talking about Kurama. "Fine," I sighed, knowing it'd be better to fess up about him too, "As for Kurama I know everything from his foxy attitude to the previous color of his hair."

Hiei didn't just stiffen, he froze. Cold, stone still as he processed the information. After a long time, he slowly asked, "Do you know a detective by the name Yuusuke?"

I hesitated, then nodded, "Yes."

"I see." He jerkily got to his feet before he slipped out the window, into the inky nighttime abyss.

I wasn't the least bit surprised he asked nothing about Kuwabara.

**Tsk, tsk, Mimi-chan! You and your big mouth! Hope everyone liked!! Don't forget to review pleasums! And speaking of which I'd like to thank ****Engraved-Angel**** (blondness does suck and I'm changing the title! :P ) and ****AmY-DyLaN-SoHiA-aNiKi**** (math sucks! I feel your pain!) for reviewing!! Nother side note, I didn't proof this one either so plz tell me if u spies mistakes! XD**


	11. More Important than School?

**Hey lookie!! This story has just received it's first update threat!! That means I'm popular!! Hooray!! Now if only I were to get a death threat on this story… then it would be supremely awesome… yeah… (sighs wistfully) And if anyone has a quarrel of Kurama's actually height, I thought it was a little too tall so I shaved 2 inches off.**

After the incident with Hiei, I found time passing by rapidly. I soon found that I'd exceeded my 3 days to 3 weeks. That soon followed into 3 months, then years…

Ha! I totally got you all! Didn't I?! I bet you were all panicking!! But I should really be more serious about this… yeah right! Anyway, I did, in fact, go back to the forest the following day. I'm not sure if it was calling me again, or I wanted to show Hiei up, (My bet's on the last one) but when I woke Monday morning I knew exactly what my plans would be. Actually, probably the biggest reason I felt the need to go was that I still had a date with 200 hundred single handed push ups. Sure, originally it was 100 double handed, but hey, I waited a day and we all know how interest piles up.

I rummaged though my drawers quickly, pulling out a slightly clingy t-shirt and jeans that I'd be able to fully move in, all of which were hand-me-downs from Ai-chan's granddaughter. The only new things I pulled out were my panties and bra that I went to buy during my lunch break yesterday; they were expensive, but I'll be darned if I accept pre-used underwear, besides, they were uber cute so it was worth the splurge. I decided to wear my green hearted undergarments and threw them into my accumulating wad of clothing, which was beginning to be hard to carry. Turning on my heel, I whipped past my full length mirror, into the little bathroom across from the kitchen.

Remnants of Hiei's visit littered my bathroom floor; he'd torn apart my medicine cabinet looking for bandages and left several soaps and antiseptics on the ground along with other first aid products. I was glad for the reminder that it had actually happened but was annoyed that I'd need to clean up his mess.

Shaking my head, I plopped my clothes onto the bathroom counter and decided I could clean up later as I tore off my puppy dog pajamas; more hand-me-downs. I ran my hands along my stomach and breasts inspecting them for new bruises. Upon inspecting my arms I found my finger mostly healed, still scabbed though, and a purple bracelet laced both of my wrists where Hiei had grabbed me.

_Way to be gentle with a girl… _I shook my head and sighed, I deserved it anyway, pushing his buttons like that. Humming to myself I continued to inspect my upper body and, once satisfied, I set about inspecting my facial features. My hair had revolted during the night and it'd thrown itself into an angry hive lashing out in every which way, I shuddered at the thought of taming it before leaving and briefly wondered if anyone would care if I left it as is. With an exasperated sigh, I threw my hands into the air and set about brushing the mess my hair had become. It took at least 20 minutes to rid it of all snarls and by then I didn't care what I looked like, I was so fricking annoyed.

I ripped off my pajama bottoms and threw on my undergarments, brushed my teeth and pinned my hair into a messy bun so I could actually workout, and then thrust my arms and legs through the tee-shirt and pants with such force that, for one wild moment, I though I'd rip them.

I would have contemplated if I'd need anything else but I was so frustrated with how long I'd wasted in the bathroom that I left without a second thought, nearly tripping over the wood door frame in my haste. Flustered, I muttered a dark threat under my breath before sprinting down the hallway at a reckless speed that nearly sent me tumbling down the flight of stairs located at the very end. I took those two at a time and, as soon as my feet touched the bottom, sprinted down the street until several odd looks from passerby's compelled me to stop. By the time I finally reached the forest my impatience had grown to a bursting point that I unleashed in a full out run, causing a strange sense of déjà vu to flit over me for a moment.

I slowed myself into an easy lope as soon as I caught sight of a green ocean, the wind ruffled the grass still shimmering with early morning dew make it seem as if waves rippled across the meadow. Once again I tumbled onto my back; the sweet grass tickled my nose and I spread out my arms and legs as far out as possible before relaxing into my starfish-like position with a sigh. I was about to fall asleep when a realized I had another reason for coming back. With an effort, I managed to push myself into a sitting position and groaned, none to eager for what was to pass.

"Ok…" I told myself as I climbed to my feet, "200 isn't as hard as it seems… Only 20 sets of 10, right?"

Slowly I lifted both my hands as high to the sky as possible, stuck out my right foot and sort of jump-hopped into a handstand. The wet grass made my hands clumsier that I'd expected and I toppled back to earth with a grunt as the soft impact stole my breath for a split second. I sighed and decided that a yoga approach would be better than gymnastics. I flipped myself onto my stomach and then pushed myself onto all fours. Making sure that my elbows and shoulders were perfectly aligned, I intertwined my fingers so they formed a triangle in front of me. I bowed into my hands so that they'd cup my head and then pushed up on my legs so that my lower body and legs made a triangle. Pushing further into the dirt I slowly rolled my legs up above my body and then stretched as high into the sky as possible so I wouldn't topple over as my body straightened like a rod supported only by my head and elbows. I forced myself to focus on my breathing as vertigo settled into the pit of my stomach before gravity slammed it into the center on my throat. Slowly I pushed up my elbows so my head was suspended 2 inches above them and then, bending my knees and then kicking them straight back up as I pushed off my elbows again, I managed to pull myself up into a full handstand save for bend elbows. As I straightened my elbows I leaned ever so slightly to my right side and carefully started to lift my left hand, the even tempo of my breathing keeping me concentrated and balanced. Carefully, on the exhale of another deep breath, I tucked my left arm behind my back. I allowed the following inhale to calm myself and then bent my right elbow slowly as I exhaled. I let myself stare at the ground for a second when I realized I'd done the breathing wrong. I sucked in air deeply and then exhaled as I pushed myself up, satisfied that I'd remembered the breathing technique before I'd started, unlike so many other exercise flubs.

Once again I bent my elbow, sucking air in as I went down, and then pushed up grunting out the word 'two' as my exhale. I repeated this sequence in a seemingly endless repetition; my arm soon began to burn and an even layer of sweat coated my limbs and dampened my hair.

"46…" I gasped out, continuing up and down, on and on. By the time I finally uttered the word 'one hundred' sweat poured from my bangs and cheeks and I felt dizzy with some kind of adrenaline rip off. My right arm had started to convulse in rapid succession, I quickly set down my left arm to balance myself, and held myself with both arms until my heart rate settled slightly.

"Ok…alright…" I cooed to myself, "Just 10 more sets… alright…"

I hoisted my right arm into the air and just as I set my full weight onto my left hand a surge of pain jumped up and down my arms like a surge of living electricity. I gasped, panting with effort as I tried to keep myself balanced. Flashes of red and black jumped across my vision before I managed to control myself and managed to terminate the pain. The emerald green of the grass seemed to jump at my face; I had to close my eyes briefly before I managed to adjust my eyes to normal colors again. Invisible fingers tickled the base of my skull and I felt a sickening sensation as the spasm of pain struck a familiar cord in my mind.

_Don't tell me…_ I internally groaned and tried to keep my eyes from dancing down to my injured fingers, I knew I'd never be able to force myself to continue if I saw any trace of blood being the OCD person I am. I closed my eyes and took a long breath through my nose, forcing myself to focus. I winced slightly as a tiny tendril of pain escaped my blockade for the first few pushups, but after that I managed to form a trance like zone as I had earlier, leaving only my steady breathing as a distraction.

After another span of immeasurable time, the words 'one hundred' once again parted my lips. I didn't even bother myself with a merciful end, too tired to even bother, and just let myself collapse onto my back knocking another second's worth of air out of my lungs. I let myself rest for a few counts before I rolled up onto my feet, and instantly regretted it.

"Oh my…" I gasped and grabbed my head; my slower left hand clumsily secured my mouth as my stomach battered itself against my ribcage and attempted to quell the terrible dizziness that brought a ringing to my ears in such a boisterous, high pitched key I felt myself briefly lose my grip on consciousness. I squeezed my eyes shut, not daring to move my hands from their respective places, and started to breathe deeply again. Once, I quelled the odd fit I pushed myself to my feet and started a set of jumping jacks.

Of course, one or two minutes of my breasts slapping against each other like a pair of cymbals was more than I or they could handle, so I set off running circles around the small clearing. In a few seconds a ridiculous, childish joy overtook me and I started cart wheeling and flipping around the little field. That is, until I smacked straight into a tree. Dizzy again, it took me a few seconds to realize that the gentle laughter was actually coming from someone around me, not in my head.

"Whoever it is; shut the hell up!" I grouched and pulled myself out of the tree as quickly as possible in hopes of catching my mysterious hyena. Of course, my knees failed me as I tumbled over backwards, my bun rebelled at that moment and all my hair twisted around my face. A startled yelp burst through my lips as a particularly hard stone punched my spine. I heard another, muffled giggle followed by a cough, both in different keys and from different voices. I fought against my hair for a moment before, exhausted, I let my arms splay out around me and tilted my chin down in a pitiful attempt to get a better view.

"All right, very funny!" I growled and found another burst of energy in one arm that I used to rip the remaining strands out of my face. "Oh, well that figures. He who enjoys my misfortune."

Kurama's eyebrows shot up in mock alarm, a quick grin flashed across his face. "Now when, other then now of course," He quickly added, smiling again, "have I ever held pleasure in your misfortune?"

He brushed a stray strand of his long red hair out of his face as he awaited my answer, which I took a moment to ponder before I let out an overdramatic, exasperated, "_Oh,_ I don'tknow…" I pursed my lips and wished I could summon the strength to stand up and talk as face to face as my 5 foot 4 inches could hope to in the presence of his 5 foot 9 inches. It was a wonder how he managed to look so light and delicate, like a red lily, at that height. Maybe the height was his secret. "How about when we first met in the rain, and you, my hyena friend." -

"Ah, yes." He allowed himself another quick smile, "And then I seduced you and dragged you back to my house, I suppose."

"You might as well have…" I grumbled and attempted to rise again; the attempt failed. It annoyed me how tired I was after only 200 hundred handstand pushups and… hell, I guess maybe I did over do it a little… "Um…" I bit my lip and hesitated, was I really that weak that I needed to ask for help? I struggled again and gave up: Yes, yes I was. I sighed and looked up at the redhead. "Will you please help?"

Kurama covered his mouth with the bottom of his left hand, eyes twinkling in amusement, "Of course."

"Wipe that grin off your face." I frowned and raised both my arms up towards him. His hands were slight and warm to the touch; with ridiculous ease he pulled me to my feet, and caught me again when I stumbled. I put my hands in front of myself to stay steady, Kurama hovering protectively near my quaking form.

_Dammit! If I'm this freaking weak after so little exercise then I'll defiantly have to up my training… _I allowed myself that shallow, masochistic thought and shook myself until I felt steady enough on my own before stepping away from Kurama.

He took a quick step towards me to make sure I wouldn't teeter over, then he stepped back to give me space and a better view of the source of the second voice I'd heard earlier.

I was utterly dumfounded. There next to Kurama, was Hiei, his head tilted slightly to the side; his hair covering most of his face. His red eyes flashed quickly towards me and then dropped back behind the curtain of hair.

"Whoa, Hiei-chan!" I couldn't help myself, I did a double take and then my arm shot out parallel to the ground to point at him. "You're actually here?!"

His crimson eyes flashed back to me, a small sneer adorned his face and he crossed his arms; puffing up his chest in the process. It seemed to me as if he was sizing me up and when he jutted out his chin and demanded, "Is that a _problem_?" I knew he had been. My arm dropped back behind my head where I used it fiddle with the base of my neck, turning my own head slightly. If I mimicked his sizing up I was pretty sure he wouldn't back down from the challenge even with Kurama next to us, so to avoid trouble I tilted my head slightly down as most animals do when they submit. "Not really." I muttered, pulling my head back up when his form relaxed slightly, "Just surprising, actually." He seemed satisfied by my answer and flipped his head in the other direction as he'd previously been posed; his arms remained firmly across his chest.

Kurama coughed lightly to remind me he was still there and asked, "How is it surprising?"

"Well, you know, after last night I thought he'd…" I let myself trail off, slightly embarrassed. The nose thing wasn't what worried me in the least bit, but after I more or less mentioned Yukina, I thought that he'd spend the day watching her or avoiding me.

"Last night?" Kurama questioned, I furrowed my eyebrows when that didn't seem to strike a familiar chord. Hiei hadn't told him? Sure he's evasive at times but he'd surely tell Kurama when I so freely admitted to knowing so much about him. Just as I opened my mouth to ask what _he _meant, Hiei cut me off.

"Didn't I tell you not to come here today?" His eyes flickered over to Kurama and then back to me, his lips pressed firmly together, curving slightly down at the ends.

_What the…?_ Kurama glanced over at Hiei himself and they shared a brief glance before Kurama seemed to back of the subject all together. He gave me a quick, apologetic smile and I realized that I still hadn't answered Hiei.

"Oh, um…" I flustered for a second before I managed to control my suspicions, "Well, you said you wouldn't recommend it, not that I _shouldn't_ come."

"And I suppose that means it's perfectly fine." Hiei flipped his head back in my direction, eyes flaring, and spat the words at me. I giggled, his anger was like a pouting little kid, and his size certainly didn't help.

"But of course." I smiled, half shrugging like I it was common sense. I heard Kurama snort lightly, and he intervened before I pushed Hiei too much.

"Well, Midori-chan, you've yet to tell us why you're out here." His calm, polite demeanor didn't not help the mental twitch my full name caused.

"I could ask you both the same thing." I said before turning on Kurama, giving hime my full attention as I glared at him. "And do _not_ call me that!" What was _wrong_ with him? Nicknames are fun, real ones are not! IT. IS. THAT. SIMPLE. Kurama quirked his eyebrow again to let me know he wasn't about to answer that, his eyes wicked amused.

I grumbled, "Training. I was training." I crossed my arms in a harrumphy fashion and asked, "_Happy?_"

"Quite." Kurama smiled. I felt the strange, violent urge to punch him in the face.

"Hn." Apparently I'd attracted Hiei's attention when I'd said training and he scoffed, "Don't make me laugh."

"Ya know you're a real jerk sometimes Hiei?" I asked with a roll of my eyes, "Believe it or not, yes, I _was_ training." I sniffed and muttered, "Before that tree got in the way."

Kurama chuckled lightly and said, "It's good to see you're in such high spirits." I flashed him a quick grin, "Yup!" I said, "And you still have to come by the shop sometime."

"I actually came today to find you." Kurama said, "I have a few things I'd like to ask."

"Shouldn't you be in school mister?" I asked wagging my finger playfully as if chastising him; internally however, I was suddenly defensive. I caught Hiei's eye for a second and he seemed to smirk slightly at my discomfort. Maybe he _did_ tell Kurama.

"Ordinarily yes." Kurama answered, seemingly oblivious to Hiei and my exchange. "But this is more important."

**More important than school?! Gasp! Just how could ANYTHING be more important than school!? School sucks, that's how! Anywhozits, read and review plz!! Oh and srry for the late update, did u know u get homework over BREAK!? What the fudge?! **


	12. You Just Had To Faint, Didn't You?

**Quick addy: BE SURE TO READ BOTTOM!!!!!! IMPORTANT!!!!!!**

**+New update: I didn't really like the flower part (or rather it didn't flow) so I changed about on paragraph in this chappie. Who ever can find the 'Waldo' of my paragraph gets a cookie!!**

"_More important_ than _school?!_" I gasped , raising up my hand to my mouth in fake astonishment, "_What_, pray tell, could _possibly _bemore important to Minamino Shuichi than _school_?!?!"

Kurama gave me a wry smile at my overreaction and shook his head, "I think you ought to know me more than that."

"Hmm…." I stuck both my right pointer finger and left pinky finger (I was fairly sure I could smell blood on that one) to either temple and pretended to think hard. After a few seconds I dropped my hands and shrugged, "Sorry, I can begin to fathom what I _ought _to know about you." Then I giggled and added, "Unless of course you lied about your gender and have been toying with me all this time."

Kurama smiled slightly at that with just a vague hint of annoyance, "I seem to recall telling you I wouldn't try anything, so how exactly did I toy with you?" He shook his head and chuckled lightly at some private joke before continuing, "No, I suppose you wouldn't know, but I've had a feeling that you did for the longest time, which is why I stand before you now."

"Okay, now you're just confusing me." I said raising both hands to stop his verbal pondering, "What exactly are you talking about?"

"I wonder that myself." Kurama shook his head and stared at something unseen in the distance. I flashed Hiei a quick look but he just shrugged; maybe he really had no part of this, Kurama is pretty sharp after all. I glanced over at the redhead's angelic features; his face knitted together at the eyebrows and a pondering finger at his lip. He seemed to be unconsciously hugging his side as he though in silence. If only I knew just what he wanted to talk about, I might have some ground to approach him on but because Hiei refused to acknowledge any of this and my tongue tying itself into knots, we ended up sitting in silence until Kurama finally blinked and broke his train of thought. "I'm sorry, that was rude of me." Kurama refused to elaborate if what he thought was rude was merely the silence he's evoked with his staring or what he had been thinking.

"It's cool, I do the same sometimes." With a lofty wave of my hand I dismissed the apology and climbed up into the branches of the tree behind me. Once I reached a thick branch about 15 or so feet up, I clasped my knees around it and swung back to face the two boys now upside-down faces. "I've got an idea, why don't we play 20 questions?" I watched Hiei twitch at the name and glare up at me, to which I gave a quick smile and made a kissy face at him. His face darkened by a shade or two and he averted his head, edging slightly behind Kurama, who seemed utterly perplexed, "20 questions?"

"Yup! Well… actually, that's not really the game, but I call it that, it's just easier…" I shrugged but gravity had its own plans and my arms were soon back to hanging limply at my sides.

"And how do you play?" He asked, quickly glancing back at Hiei who was sticking to his side like glue, shooting murderous glares in my direction; I stuck my tongue out at him then turned my attention back to my confused little fox.

"Weeeeell…" I stretched to word out into it's own sentence. ""It's basically just a question game, you ask one then I ask one and so on. The only rule is you have to be totally honest, however, as long as it answers the question properly you can make your answer as short or confusing as you like, right Hiei?"

Hiei looked away and edged even further behind Kurama, I could barely see him dwarfed behind the redhead. "You never told me any of those rules onna. It was simply questions."

"But did I lie on any, even the ones I didn't want to say?" I asked him, he clearly didn't want to talk about the questions and I seemed Kurama was just as curious as I was that he had kept the information to himself.

"You've played before?" Kurama had to turn around to meet Hiei's gaze, and I lost sight of him behind Kurama's height. _Giant lily… _

From what I hear, which wasn't a lot, Hiei didn't feel the slightest need to tell Kurama anything more than the fact we played it last night, his deep whispers and Kurama's high lithe ones creating a smooth, silken harmony. Again, like the time I heard them whispering a few nights ago, I found myself wishing I was in there conversation, no matter how brief the exchange was. In a matter of seconds, although it felt like eons to me, Kurama had flipped back around, seemingly satisfied and Hiei answered the question I forgot I'd asked.

"No." He said begrudgingly, "You didn't." I quickly ran back what I said in my head and realized he was agreeing that I didn't lie the last time we played.

"Well then," I looked over at Kurama who'd spoken, "Shall I go first or should you?"

"You wanted to talk with me." I shrugged again and gravity once again smacked my hands to my sides, "You go, oh, but are you gonna play too Hiei? If so, go after Shu-chan."

"Fine." Hiei grunted; it seemed he had a question too.

"Well, Midori-chan," _Twitch. _I sourly turned back to Kurama, pursing my lips together. "What kinds of things do you believe in when it comes to myths or legends? Please list as many as you can."

That's Kurama for you, no loopholes. I was about to say 'a lot' up until he taped on the finale sentence. "Well, let's see." I sighed trying to think over everything I believed in, "Angels and demons, of course, but also ghosts, vampires, mythical creatures; especially dragons and kitsunes, they're my favorite, though phoenixes are cool too… um… I can't really think of all of them on the spot…" I bit my lip and tried to think of others but they just kept evading me so I said, "Almost every myth or legend there is I guess. Every story is true in one way or another." Boy did I know that was the truth. I looked down at Kurama and briefly wondered if every story happened exactly as is but simply through other dimensions. Maybe Harry Potter was facing Voldemort right now, next to our current dimension and we didn't know it.

I briefly pondered what Kurama could possibly gain from that information before I turned towards Hiei and arched my eyebrow, "So…?" I asked, "You in?"

Hiei seemed to roll his eyes, but that could have just been my eyes playing tricks on me. "Fine then, how old are you?"

My mouth dropped into a little 'o' before I composed it back into a sloppy grin, "And what could you possibly gain from that information? Have you finally found how unbelievable attractive I am?"

"I was wondering if it was possible for someone to remain two their whole life." Hiei deadpanned, shooting me another glare. I stuck my tongue back out at him, "Well then, call me a 15-year-old toddler!" To illustrate my point I stuck both thumbs to an ear and waggled my hands back and forth in the ever popular children's _neener-neener-you-can't-get-me! _fashion. Hiei scoffed and I heard Kurama chuckle before asking, "Don't you have a question, Midori-chan?"

"I get two because I answered two." I told him, "By the way, you can ask Hiei stuff and vice versa if you want."

"I think I'll pass on that." Kurama smiled, "You're the only puzzle I'd like to solve today."

"Suite yourself," Attempted shrug, "But you'll never fully solve me. Anywhozits," I continued, "I think I _do_ have a question, and it's for you."

"Oh?" Kurama arched his eyebrow, seemingly amused. I was glad I had someone more patient to question; no fear of walls that way.

"Yup," I swung my arms back and forth gaily, "What is your favorite flower?"

Hiei shot another glare up at me and I smiled, waiting for Kurama's response. He answered immediately in a calm, yet subtly enthusiastic manner, "I prefer roses. They're one of the most fragrant and beautiful flower, but deadly in their own respect."

"Aha." I nodded, "True, every rose has it's thorns."

"Indeed." Kurama agreed, his hand twitched ever so slightly, as if he longed to reach up and stroke the rose I knew lay hidden in those red tresses of his.

"And how about you Hiei; favorite flower?" I asked. Then, remembering the pretty flowers the Vampire Plant produced after devouring Karasu's blood, added, "Normal, non morbid one please."

Kurama seemed to catch the add on and asked, "What morbid flowers do you know of?"

"Dunno, maybe he'd say Venus Flytrap and call it a flower because it blooms…" I sighed as if the thought vexed me in some way, Kurama chuckled.

"Lily." Hiei's lips quirked up slightly into his imfamous smirk and I laughed myself.

"Well I wouldn't say that's a _morbid_ plant, but you sure picked one with an awful meaning!" I shook my head and figured that the reason Hiei chose the lily was _because_ it meant death. Kurama sighed, "Honestly Hiei…"

He shook his head with mock disaproval and looked back up at me, "I believe it's my turn."

"Shoot." I said with a wave of my hand; and he did.

"If you were to list the top 5 most astonishing things about this world, what would they be?" He asked.

I sighed, another one with no easy answer. "Well…" I felt my cheeks sting with embarrassment as I thought of all the things I liked and how corny it would sound to voice them, which I would have if I had been sure that would answer the question but my intuition told me he meant something else. "Maybe how similar…it all is…" I swung up into the tree so I'd be in a more comfortable position, I was getting dizzy from staying upside down so long. With my back securely pressing up against the tree trunk I felt it safe to pull my legs into my chest and look up at the tree's leaves above my head. It was a pine tree and it smelled, felt and looked exactly like the ones back home.

"That's not 5 things." Kurama reminded me with a playful smile, I blushed and hid behind my bangs once I realized that I'd been spacing out.

"Well… the sounds, textures, smells…" I ran my hand over the pine, "It's kinda weird how similar they are… and also, it's weird to see and know people before you even are introduced, know personal things even close friends wouldn't know, because their lives are read like a book…And then wondering…" I plucked a pine needle out of the tree and turned it over in my hand, could it possibly be a dream? When it felt this real? "Wondering… what if my life is an open book too? Or maybe I'm just an unimportant character in the background, like so many others…"

"Do you miss your world?" _Did I?_ I hadn't given it much thought since I arrived. But now that the question arose, I felt a little pang of homesickness.

"Yeah… I do…" I mumbled, "It's weird, because I'm not really _missing_ anything; it's all here… maybe more… but I do miss the people… and the places near my house I used to ditch soccer and school; places I used for daydreaming… huh. Maybe _that's _the real reason I came to the forest today… I had one near my house… feels like home…"

I closed my eyes and started thinking about my home and what I missed. Sounds of the high pitched wails of my sister early in the morning, mom yelling at me, friends playful teasing… Smells like the locker rooms, my dad's too strong cologne, Rose's lavender flavored bubble gum…

I found myself drifting in and out of awareness; it seemed like I was looking through water trying to catch the rippling images and the plunging in and being held in the cool undertow.

When I came back to my senses I was lying on my bed and I could hear the light pitter patter of rain outside. I jumped up to my feet and looked around out of reflex but I knew I wouldn't see what I was looking for. Kurama and Hiei had disappeared, maybe I'd answered Kurama's questions without knowing; or maybe the mention of home and my training had been too much and I'd simply fainted, I didn't know or care. The only thing I could think of now was the light pitter patter of rain and the books I used to read during times like this.

**First off; DON'T HATE ME!!! The reason there are so many dead ends in this story so far is because it's only from Midori's side; I'm going to make another story from Hiei or Kurama's point of view later and fill in all these gaps. In fact, the gaps are pissing me off too; I'm thinking of starting the other story soon just so it's filled out more, which brings me to random question I need to ask yall!! Ok, first off I'm not sure if I'm going to do pairings BUT if I DO do a pairing, I'd like to know what you people's preferences are (obviously I might choose a completely different pairing if I think it fits better) but if I do have a pairing obviously who ever is paired with Midori will be the POV I use to fill the stories gaps. So, I'd like all of you who care to send me a review who you'd like for a pairing and also if I should start the second story now to fill in the gaps. Starting the second story WILL NOT AFFECT THE SPEED I UPDATE THIS ONE!! Plz keep in mind, that since I already have this one layed out it'd be easy and probably pretty faster in getting the other story up to par with this one. So let me hear what you guys have to say ok?!?! Plz review ASAP so I can continue on!! **

**+Anyone pissed i haven't updated lately- remeber the comment of if i even SHOULD continue the story, and because of all your support (and one extreme reviewer) I will continue, but plz keep in mind the updates will be slow to come until summer. Btw, expect the actual chappie for 14? is it? to come out soon (now I'm not worring about continuing but rather writing) Thanks for all the support!!!! **


	13. Let's Work DDR!

I remember… a time when you were peaceful… a time when it was right… who were you then?...who are you now?... do you really know?... do you really know anything?...I want you to believe… but you'll just be hurt again… like the last time it happened… remember?... it was cold… your mom… she's crying… that smell… that horrible smell… those colors… stained the snow… the shadows… they litter the floor… what's happening?...what is it?… you know… you always knew… _**Blood.**_

I awoke in a cold sweat, my heart pounding as if I'd been running. My hand flew to my chest and I grabbed hold of my shirt right over my raging heart, trying to calm myself. Something dropped onto the ground and I screeched in fear. But it was only the book I'd been reading. "Just a dream…" I murmured, staring downed at the dog-eared book lying next to me. "Only a dream…" But what had it been about? Remembering… something? An incident? A movie? Did it actually occur? Maybe I'd induced it with my book? I picked up my book and turned it over. A happy young, blonde boy garbed in leaves stared up at me with aqua eyes: _Peter Pan_. Could this book have given me the dream? I ran through my head what I had dreamt, but it was no use; like trying to hold water in your hand. The harder I tried to keep it with me, the faster it trickled away until it was all gone. I couldn't remember. The only thing I could remember was an overpowering sense of despair… terrible despair… I hugged myself and shivered, even though my room was so hot I'd removed my puppy pajamas when I was sleeping. I closed my eyes, inhaled deeply through my nose, and told myself; _it was only a dream_, repeatedly until my body stopped shaking and the dull thudding in my ear was reduced to nothing.

_Thud, thud. _The knocking scared me so much I tossed _Peter Pan_ over my head with a yelp and jumped to my feet. Before I could race to the door, the book fell onto my head and brought us both down to the floor with a thud. "Ow…" I complained weakly, grabbing my head a pushing myself into sitting position. Ai-chan burst through my door clad in a green knitted sweater displaying an orange kitten playing with yarn and the words 'Nya nya~' above it. "What are you _doing, _Midori?" She cried, "We're opening in 10 minutes!" "Ah!? No way!" I cried and leaped to my feet to check my alarm clock. It's bright red digits blinding in the semidarkness read off 2:50. "_TWO FIFTY?!_" I cried and began throwing clothes from my drawers as I searched for my uniform, "Why didn't you wake me!?!?" Ai-chan made a little tsk-tsk noise with her throat and mutter something about being responsible for myself before leaving to, I presumed, the front desk. In moments, I was following her example, bounding down the stairs to our café at top speed.

"Finally!" Ai-chan grouched as I appeared at the bottom, "Quick spruce up the store before we open! You've got 5 minutes." "Got it!" I said with quick nod and grabbed the broom from behind the counter. I dashed outside and quickly swept away the dried leaves that had fallen on the front step during the day before dashing back in the wipe down the tables. I was just finishing up when the first customers arrived; four high school girls with notepads and two with glasses and matching orange pigtails whispering amongst themselves. I tucked my washcloth into my apron and pulled out my notepad as I hustled over to them. "Table for 6?" I asked, the girls stopped whispering and giggled, one of the orange haired girls hissed into her friend's ear something distinctly resembling '_it's her!_' I shifted uncomfortably and asked if they'd prefer our to-go selection and pointed towards Ai-chan's counter. "No!" One on the girls with notepads burst, I quirked an eyebrow at her as she continued, "I'm mean, yeah, table for six." _Whatever you say~_ "All right then, follow me." I shrugged and led the girls over to a booth. Once they were all seated, I prepped myself to take their orders but before I could ask they all burst out at once. "Your costume is so cute~!" "Did you make that?" "What do you use for make up?" "How do you style your hair?" "Are you a model?" "You're adorable!!" "Uhh…" I stared, shocked as the girls bombarded me with more questions feeling my face grow warm. Unsure what to do I mustered a flustered thank you and asked if I could take their orders, keeping my eyes down. They giggled.

"I'll have the Milk Frisky and Catnip!" Yet another of the red heads were first to pipe up. The other girls followed suite, each slightly changing the order until it had been completely altered when the final girl, spotted with freckles and tanned skin framed by her dark locks, ordered. I scribbled down their orders and made my hasty exit, blushing furiously until I was safely hidden in the kitchen. I quick started mixing up the milk shakes and lattes the girls ordered and grabbed a few cakes before rushing back to the girls. As I passed Ai-chan, plates precariously balanced on two serving platters, an idea struck me. "Heeeey Ai-chan." I slowly pivoted around to face her, "Would you be open to hiring a few new girls?"

And there you have it. By the end of my shift, I'd have two new faces to work with on the weekday three to seven and four new faces for the weekends. At first Ai-chan was opposed to the idea, but after she saw how word had spread about our little café, (funny how fast gossip travels when one, lone, chatty girl finds a cute place to eat) she eventually agreed. The girls were all ecstatic about it and were begging me to let them repay me in some way. Thus is where I currently am, with six girls I met by chance headed to the arcade for a little fun. They'd each changed out of their uniforms and picked me up after my shift and now I was trying to put a name to each of them. Reina and Riko were by far the easiest to remember. They were they two pigtailed girls, who I now knew were twins, they both were wearing matching outfits of white hats and boots, jeans and pink t-shirts that completed each other when they stood next to each other reading; Party – Animal. They were both fair skinned and hazel eyed rimmed with their pink glasses, the orange hair I guess, was dyed. Then there was Ryu; brilliant gold eyes set in an almost translucent skin tone surrounded by dark locks cut boyish short and a hefty pair of knockers that made me wonder at her ability to stand up straight, then again, she was at least 5'7, so I guess it evened out. It amazed me that they asked me if _I _was a model when Ryu was definitely much further down that line than I but whatever, to each unto their own, I guess. Jori wore a black skirt with light purple stockings and shirt that highlighted her purple hair. She'd tied her hair up into a messy bun and was clutching a purple bag that I presumed held her notebook, I couldn't tell what her eye color was because she kept looking away whenever I looked over at her. The other two girls were the most confusing. They both had long blue hair, one periwinkle, one navy-almost black, and wore jeans and t-shirts too. This wasn't what was confusing however, I could tell them apart physically easily, but their names were hard to remember. I'm pretty sure the navy haired girl was Sayomi or something of the like but I couldn't remember the other girl's name. It was painfully embarrassing because she was the one I seemed to be getting along with the best along with the twins. As for me, the girls had showed up so quickly I was stuck in my uniform (I faintly suspected that was their plan) but had nearly forgotten my embarrassment amongst their constant chatter.

Once we arrived at the arcade, I was too excited about the selection to care what people were whispering about my catty attire. "Omg! I love DDR!" I found myself squealing in front of the game in a matter of seconds. The girls pushed me onto the dance pad and inserted a few coins. _"DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION!!!!" _The machine belted out and several characters appeared on the screen asking me to choose one. I choose a cute little monkey and proceeded onto arcade mode. Next, it asked what song I wanted, I'd always been kinda sore on my kanji so I stuck to a simple one I knew 'Speed Over Beethoven' and, feeling daring, upped the level to difficult. The shrill high music started leaking out of the machine as a stream of rainbow arrows came flashing across the screen. I started to rock my body with the beat to land each note on sync and even added a few arm movements. By the time the song ended, I was high-strung and elated, the pulse of the beat still controlling the pulse of my heart. Then, the machine added up my score; 137 combo with several perfects and greats, a few goods and one almost. "ALLLLLLLLRIGHT!!! NOW THAT'S THE WAY TO DO IT!!!" It crooned loudly before it swept away my score and announced, "NEEEEEEXT STAGE!!!"

Thus, I continued with the game until it final ended on the fourth song, the bonus stage. When I turned around, I found half the arcade had been watching me, and they all cheered when I got off. Flustered, not to mention sweaty, I told Ryu and the others I was going to the restroom to freshen up; they asked if I wanted them to come but I told them to play around some more and dashed off. The bathroom was pretty nice for an arcade, it's white walls and sink gave it that clean feeling. I splashed some water on my face and blushed as I peered at the face in the mirror. I was still wearing my kitty costume, I guess I'd forgotten in all the excitement and everyone had seen me dancing in it… I shook my head of that thought and finished cooling myself down. As I exited the restroom I heard a loud cheering from the crowd as someone one Guitar Hero began racking up the points and smiled to myself. I wasn't ready to go back at this exact second, so I started loitering around the back when I heard another noise; two _very_ familiar voices…

"…I'm telling you Urameshi! There's something about her!" Bingo. It was Kuwabara and Yuusuke. Yuusuke's lazy, unconcerned voice answered Kuwabara's panicky voice, "Geez, Kuwabara… keep going on about this and you'll make Yukina sad…" I could just picture Yuusuke putting his hands behind his head and yawning. Carefully, I tiptoed towards the voices, making certain the corner hid me.

"You know what I mean!" Kuwabara hesitated, then continued in a whisper, "There's something not right about her, not like I've ever felt…"

"Oh come off it!" Yusuke yelled, "It's not that stupid tickle again, is it?"

"And what if it is? Huh?" Kuwabara challenged, "Wanna make something of it?"

"Like hell I-" I'd been pressing myself so close to the wall I could almost see their shadows, "Hang on a sec, I think I feel it too."

"I told ya!!!" Kuwabara yelled, "Geez no one ever-" "Shut up!" Yusuke yelled and I hear a thud that sounded distinctly like he'd punched Kuwabara, "I mean like I _feel _it, like it's close or something" "Yeah?" Kuwabara asked, I hear the distinct sound of a footfall and held my breath, what if they saw me? Damn it! And who they hell were they talking about!?

**Hope you liked it!!! Sorry I haven't been updating, I've been majorly busy lately! So anyway, this is IMPORTANT people! Because I've been so busy I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep this story up, I might just scrap it unless I know there are some people out there who like it. I'm fond of this story myself, but there'd be no use in wasting the little spare time I have on this if no one likes it. So, in order to gauge how many people enjoy this, I have a certain number for reviews in my head and unless it's met don't be surprised if the story doesn't progress. Sorry! But that's just the way it's gotta be! As always, review if you liked it and I'm open to constructive criticism!! **


	14. Are Voices a good sign?

**Anyone who enjoys this story should worship ; anyone who takes that much time to give me a little feedback shouldn't be disappointed. So, I won't delete this story. Granted, you'll all have to keep in mind it might take a while to update and such; and I'd like at least a good 5 reviews a chappie. I know there are at least that many ppl (actually 3 times that many) and I don't think it's asking too much. Thanks to everyone who reviewed! You guys definitely perked me up! **

Well, whatever. It didn't matter who or what they were talking about, what mattered now was whether or not they'd catch me eavesdropping. And I was very keen on not. It didn't take a brain surgeon to figure out where I could hid in this situation. I was boxed in the back corner near the restrooms, so naturally I went back into said restroom.

The low footsteps died down when I shut the door behind me, but not enough to completely muffle them. Once I was certain they were close enough to possible hear, I noisily flushed the toilet and slammed the bathroom stall. It was inevitable that they'd find me, so the only thing left was to make them think I hadn't heard a second of their conversation. I suddenly found myself wishing I had a make-up pouch or something so I could pass off the long time in here as a quick 'freshening up' break. However, I made do with what I had and turned on the sink; dutifully scrubbing every inch of hand I could find. A faint murmur reached my ear and confirmed what I'd thought would happen; Kuwa and Yuusuke were waiting outside curious to see who was in the restroom - no doubt they'd already checked the men's. So this brought about a new dilemma; go out now or later. But they were stubborn, that was certain, and I doubted they'd go for a while.

I mustered up a carefully neutral expression, took a deep breath and walked out the door. "Well, well." I didn't make eye contact and continued to walk, knowing it would be better to see if they would call out to me- so it didn't seem like I expected it. "Looks like your cat senses are tingling, Kuwabara." Yusuke's voice was playful and loud as if simply conversing with his companion but enough to goad anyone into looking back.

"I told you!" Kuwabara muttered under his breath, Yuusuke grinned and sauntered over to me.

"Can I help you?" I asked, quirking an eyebrow in mock annoyance. I refused to fully turn around to make it seem I was reluctant to talk.

"Maybe, maybe not." Yuusuke's grin stretched out into a smirk and he gave me a quick once over. "I thought that was your uniform, but maybe you just like cosplay, huh?"

"Oh, I remember you!" I bopped my hands together in a fake 'Ah-ha!' motion and turned to face him. I raised my finger and wagged it as if scolding myself for not remembering first. "It's not to often two perfectly able guys come into a kitty café."

Yuusuke scowled, and Kuwabara instantly rallied, "And what's wrong with a guy loving cats, huh?!?" He practically shouted.

I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head. My tone was innocent and falsely hurt, "What? Wrong? Did I say that? I was just making an observation!"

"Fine, then. Just long as you know…" Kuwabara's tone slowly went from chiding to muttering. "Perfectly manly… ya know…" He looked away and blushed. Yuusuke smacked him on the back and laughed. "Sure it is, pal!"

I was expecting Kuwabara to yell at Yuusuke and possible even start a brawl, but I was surprised to see Kuwabara remain perfectly calm. I was even more surprised that Kuwabara seemed very uncomfortable with this conversation, as if he would rather be elsewhere. Maybe I'm just being paranoid or reading too much into it because Yuusuke seemed fine. In fact, after he'd smacked Kuwa he'd addressed me with a playful question and I wasn't listening… Shit! Now Kuwa was looking at me along with Yuusuke, apparently I was supposed to answer something.

"Oh! Um… sorry? Could you repeat that?" I asked hesitantly, I didn't exactly feel like making myself look like a total dweeb today.

"I said, what's a pretty girl like you do in a place like this?" Yuusuke leaned in forward, hands in his pockets, and smiled, "Are you here with anyone?"

_No. You're not. Suggest a friendly walk outside… _I almost jerked back and ran off but something told me that wouldn't be the best idea. What surprised me so much wasn't the new childlike voice answering the question for me, it was where it seemed to originate. _Inside _my head. I quickly glanced over Kuwa and Yuu-chan, neither of which seemed to have even noticed the voice, they were simply waiting for my answer. _Tell them… _the voice encouraged,_ "No, I came by myself…"_

"Really now?" Yuusuke leaned back seemingly satisfied, I realized with some horror that I must have actually answered. Yuusuke nudged Kuwabara and said, "Well that's not right, we can't leave a pretty girl like her alone that would be rude. Huh, Kuwabara?"

"Yeah, that's right." Kuwabara agreed, "Why don't you let us show you the town?"

"_No, Urameshi Yuusuke, Kuwabara Kuzuma. Why don't I show _you_ the town?" _My spine tingled under the sensation of listening and speaking at the same time along with the voice.

Yuusuke's and Kuwabara's faces hardened, and I subtly detected a change in their welcome posture to a guarded on. It was Yuusuke who spoke, "Funny, I don't remember telling you my name."

"_That's because you didn't." _My inner voice chortled. _"Of course I know who you are spirit detective, or is it former detective now?" _

"Who the hell are you?" Yuusuke ground out. Something inside me panicked, I didn't what them to know how much I knew because I was afraid they'd see me as an enemy. Yet at the same time, I was enjoying this slightly. It made me feel like I was some unexpected twist in the plot, a sudden thickening in the hero's challenges. It made me feel powerful. _As you should…_

"Well Yuu-chan. If you and Kuwa want to know, why don't you follow me?" I didn't need the voice for this piece of script. I turned on my heel and walked away. It felt like my body was starting to heat up- maybe I just got caught up in my desire to stir up trouble- but I was soon overheating again. So when I exited the stuffy arcade, the cool air was welcome. I felt like I should check if Yuusuke and Kuwabara had followed me but the voice reassured, _They will follow. _

And the voice was right. I heard footsteps behind me. I continued down a couple more blocks until my neck started to prickle suddenly and I stopped. The weird part was, it wasn't really _me_ who stopped. It was like the minute before an accident, when everything moves in slow motion and your body just reacts on instinct to stay alive. Like I'd ignited those instincts and I was no longer in control, I was only watching my body assess and react to the situation. My head turned to look at the men following me, but I didn't feel it. I watched them stop, hesitant, but I couldn't really _see_ them. I felt like I was watching an old picture movie, each frame came out one at a time like a slideshow rather than a continuous motion. So when my body suddenly turned and ran off, I wasn't surprised to see Yuusuke and Kuwabara wait for a few seconds before running off in the direction I had fled.

Lights from an assortment of stores- clubs, bars, grocery and pharmacy- seemed to pop out at me making it hard to see the road. I kept running until the lights started to fade and I could see a large roundabout where the pavement stopped and a dirt road lined with benches took its place. It was a park. I veered off to the side and ran up a small hill in the very center of the park, then turned around and stopped. A tree sat next to me on the hill so I rested my weight on it as I watched Yusuke come charging up the hill followed by Kuwabara.

"All right out with it!" Yusuke slammed his fist into the tree just a few inches above my head, his face so close I could smell his breath and it mingled with my own. I hadn't realized I was panting until I realized he wasn't. Despite the seriousness of the situation, I was too giddy to properly respond to Yuusuke's question. Instead, I simply laughed.

"What the hell's so funny?" Yuusuke growled. His breath wasn't all that unpleasant actually, it smelled almost earthen but kinda pungent too, like wet dirt after a fresh rain. Maybe that was his natural scent. I was curious as to confirm this but wasn't sure if I'd be able to focus on purely his scent, his presence was overwhelming my senses. So much so that I automatically answered his question before I had a chance to process it.

"No, just that height seems to be a big factor in intimidation. It didn't work nearly as well for Hiei as it is for you." The moment I said this, I realized it to be true. When Hiei had pinned my to the wall earlier, he had held down my wrists so I couldn't move and just stared me down. It was such a typical approach it was laughable- not very threatening in its cliché. But Yuusuke didn't seem keen on touching me. All Yuusuke did was lean up against the tree as if I happened to be caught in the center but his eye contact let me know all his focus was on me. That he meant business but that he wasn't keeping me here against my will, it would be fascination that would keep me in place. It reminded me of movies where a guy flirted with a girl and she shyly leans away and he catches her and leans closer to her. It was possible he did this on purpose so it wouldn't alarm anyone passing by. Or maybe he was challenging me. I could simply slip out from under him if I wanted to but the new approach made me more hesitant. It seemed to ask if I really _should_ do move or stay still.

"So it looks that you know all of us huh?" Yuusuke gritted his teeth, I took this chance to more intently focus on his actual scent. It wasn't nearly as earthen as his breath- that was probably only something he'd eaten. Yuusuke himself was actually a more peculiar scent that his breath- musky and warm, lightly splattered with a sweet, almost floral, smell. Satisfied, I focused my eyes on his own liquid chocolate eye color. The dept they had was almost surprising.

"Well, I guess you could say that." I shrugged innocently, "But that's only if you talking the four man team- all of whom I've met- but I only _know_ of the rest of them."

The was a flicker of hesitation in Yuusuke's eyes. He opened his mouth but a voice that wasn't Yuusuke's came out. He closed his mouth and looked over his shoulder, it must have been Kuwabara.

"And who exactly _are_ the 'rest of them'." I peered out from under Yuusuke's arm just in time to see him make air quotations when he said 'rest of them'. I groaned internally and sighed.

"I won't tell you Kuwa if you insist on air quotations." I mimed his quotations as I said 'air quotations' to put emphasis on the lameity of that motion.

"All right fine then!" Kuwabara shot back, "Just tell us who they are!"

I opened my mouth to answer but closed it quickly enough. _Don't tell them…_the voice wasn't keen on telling them? After already admitted to knowing the main crew? Looking back to Yuusuke, who had resumed his staring, I figured it was right. It would be too much of any of them, except maybe Kurama, to know just how much I know.

"And who are they?" I asked, batting my eyelashes at Yuusuke. He growled and yelled at me to 'stop messing around'. Which was exactly what I was _going _to do.

"Save your breath detective. She'll only talk if you play her insidious game." I knew that sneer anywhere. Yuusuke pulled back off the tree enough to let me see the newcomer to the conversation.

"Hiei!!" I squealed, then I added severely, "Ya know it was pretty cowardly to run off in the middle of out last encounter. I would have thought you were better than that…" I shook my head sadly. Hiei's eyes glinted dangerously and I bit my lip to hid my smile.

"Ran off?!?!" Hiei spat vehemently, I covered my ears and looked away which enraged him more. Still ranting he walked over towards me. "You're the one who _fell asleep_! You're lucky Kurama even bothered dragging you back to that pitifully place you call a home."

"Hey! My apartment happens to be _just fine_, thank you!" I yelled back, I pushed off the tree and took a few steps away from Yuusuke. How dare he insult Ai-chan's apartment! After all she'd done for me!

"I suppose for a woman such as you, it is fine enough." He shot back.

"And what the hell does that mean? Woman like me?" I yelled back angrily. "I'm a damn fine woman! By stereotypes and by my own personality!!!"

"And what exactly do you base _that_ on?" Our faces were so close our noses were almost touching. As if our anger was magnetically pulling us closer. I'd bent down more to throw him off with my proximity and he'd returned with going up onto his toes to do the same. "Admit it, you're nothing more than a bothersome woman-child." He spat, "I wouldn't have thought one human could cause so much trouble until you!!"

"Me?!?!" I shrieked back and jabbed him in the stomach, "_You're _the one who-"

"WHAT THE _HELL_ IS GOING ON?!?!?!" Yuusuke hollered and grabbed me by the collar. He secured his arm around my waist and covered my mouth before I could lapse into American swears. Luckily, it wasn't just me who was being manhandled. Kuwabara had grabbed Hiei around the waist and was currently wrestling to keep hold of the feisty little fighter.

"How do you two even _know_ each other?!?!?!" Kuwabara asked Hiei incredulously.

"Just another pathetic aspect that woman has." Hiei spat, "She attracts any trouble within a 10 mile radius directly towards her, like sharks to an open wound."

Oh that does it! The second Yuusuke released some of his tension over my mouth in his own disbelieving confusion I yanked his hand down and _did_ lapse into American swears. "_FUCK YOU HIEI!!!!! YOU TINY LITTLE PINT-SIZED ASSHOLE!!! HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!!!! YOU'RE JUST AS BAD A ME IF NOT-_" Yuusuke's hand once again returned a firm place over my mouth, but I was giving him a hell of a lot harder time than I was before Hiei's remark. The little bastard. I wasn't sure why I was so angry, but boy, do I know how to raise hell when I am.

"What the fuck does _that_ mean?" Yuusuke asked, but I wasn't listening to him, I was watching Hiei who didn't seem to need a translation.

"I'll kill you." He said it so quietly I almost didn't hear it but then, very uncharacteristically, Hiei repeated himself with a huge yell. "I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!!!!!!!"

Hiei yanked out his katana and threw himself towards me in an attempt to throw Kuwabara off, I did much the same with Yuusuke and tried to free myself so I could wring the little twerp's neck. So far, all I managed was to get Yuusuke's hand off me again, which allowed another American retort.

"_OH IT'S FUCKING ON, SHORT STUFF__!!!!!!_" I lunged again and Yuusuke lost even more of his grip on me, it seemed Hiei was having the same luck. Good. All the sooner to punch him in the face then. I was so intent on getting the little sqib that when I heard a musical chuckled I thought it was Hiei laughing at me- which of course pissed me off more, but interestingly enough, Hiei seemed to think the same.

"Well, it figures you would be at the center of this Midori-chan." The musical voice chuckled again and I snapped back to my senses. Why the _hell_ had I been so pissed anyway? More importantly, what was _he _doing here? I suddenly felt ashamed and angry- mainly because he'd forgone the nickname rule _again_.

"Oh _come _on Shu-chan!!!!" I yelled, turning towards, as I presumed everyone else was too, said redhead. "I can't even _begin_ to describe how annoying you are sometimes!!!"

"Now _you're_ here Kurama??" Yuusuke gaped.

"Can _anyone_ explain what the hells going on??" Kuwabara yelled in response.

"Let go of me you fool…" Hiei muttered, and Kuwabara obliged. I found myself released too.

"Hmm…" Mused Kurama, "Not exactly the welcome I had hoped for."

"Sorry for the bad welcome mister I-don't-know-how-to-properly-address-_anyone_!!!" I huffed and placed my hands on my hips. "I can see why you'd get mad."

Kurama chuckled, "I'm sorry, Midori-chan."

"Oh why bother!!" I threw my hands to the heavens in exasperation.

"Kurama, what are you even doing here?!?! And Hiei how do you even know her?!" Yuusuke demanded, "You two better spill your guts on this one."

"Yeah! You could have at least _told_ us!!" Kuwabara chimed in.

"Sorry, I didn't really think it was my place. I didn't even know you knew her." Kurama replied. "I came here because I felt your energy Yuusuke and Hiei's soon after. Naturally, I thought it was time for another meeting."

"And what about her? Hiei?" Yuusuke asked jerking a thumb at me. At the mention of Hiei again and being ignored I burst in.

"Hello, I'm still here." I said waving my hand. "5 foot four, cute blonde, ring any bells?" I crossed my arms and huffed when Hiei took the opportunity to snub me, by answering without missing a beat.

"She was prancing through the woods, like the idiot she was, and managed to get herself attacked by a mountain ogre." He sighed.

_Are you really going to let someone who came in halfway through the story tell it?_ The voice asked. I felt anger bubbling in side me and the childish voice seemed to laugh. _You're too much of a good girl to worry them with that though, aren't you?_

"I'm not!" I growled to the voice. Shaking my head. I didn't know why but I was overflowing with anger. I felt hot… too hot, as if I'd been lit aflame. Suddenly a strong wave of nausea hit me as usual when my temperature spiked. But it wasn't as simple as my normal overheating. _Remember that little girl? The dead one… the one that tried to killed you? Hiei didn't save you from her…he doesn't even know of her…Will you tell them? Or not? Either way, is it important? You don't want them to worry now do you… _

"…ori-chan?" I hadn't realized I'd even moved from my place, let alone sunk to my knees as I listened to the voice. Kurama was right by my side in an instant his hand protectively resting on my shoulder. I stared at my black uniform shoes and took a deep breath. Wait, when did I start clutching my stomach and holing my mouth? When the nausea set in maybe? That's freakishly embarrassing… but before I had I chance to tell him I was perfectly fine, I gagged. Was I imagining it? Or did it smell exactly like it did when Hiei had first saved me from that ogre?

"Are you all right?" Kurama asked, his voice was patient, like he'd said it a couple of times. I wish he's just give me more space though, his floral aroma was overwhelming. _I've given you the perfect chance, it smells like her doesn't it? Tell them or don't, choose. _

"It's the same." I thought I heard Hiei mutter. Kurama actually moved back to look at him, so that's probably who had spoken.

"What the hell does that mean Hiei?!" Yuusuke growled, like he was being gypped. Yup. It was Hiei who spoke then.

"She's probably just smelling something bad." Hiei shrugged, "Maybe you might what to take a step away from her fool."

"What the hell does that mean!?!?!" An angry Kuwabara yelled.

"I said it clear enough, fool." Hiei said. "Her nose is sensitive and your repugnant smell is probably making her sick."

"Why you little…!" Kuwabara sounded like he was fight ready, but I was still too busy examining my shoes to tell if that was really the case.

"No. He's been here too long and she didn't seem to react until…" Kurama paused, "Sense recollection? Hiei you said she's done this before?"

"Hn."

"Hiei…" Kurama's voice was slow and patient.

"When I showed her the ogre's head. I figured it would scare her into a _normal_ reaction, but all it did was make her sick."

"Obviously a dead head would make someone sick!" Kuwabara yelled, "And you showed a _girl _it?!?"

Somewhere inside me I was mad at Kuwabara for that sexist remark but I was still busy with the smell which I wished would go away. _Endure it, your choice is coming up…_

"Not physically sick, you idiot. And the head had nothing to do with it. If it wasn't for it's putrid stench, I doubt she would have reacted at all." Hiei defended.

"You'd win that bet…" I muttered and immediately wished I hadn't. I swear I tasted bile in the next gag.

"Well how do you fix it?" Yuusuke asked.

"Why the hell would I know?" Hiei growled.

"Unfortunately, I don't think you _can_ help." Kurama chimed in, "I believe she's remembering the smell the ogre emitted. Is that right Midori?" I noticed that whenever things seemed to get more urgent, Kurama wouldn't waste time with a honorific but he'd never use a nickname- which by Japanese standards isn't the name thing _more_ insulting than a nickname?

"Unless that's your new cologne, Kurama. Then probably…" I muttered, _Choose now!_ I hesitated then added, "But it smells more like the girl than the ogre…"

"Girl?" I could tell he'd turned back to Hiei when I could no longer see his hair hanging down near my shoes. He was looking back at me again in a second though and I was wobbly getting to my feet. Kurama's arm was on mine to help stabilize me.

"Are you all right?" He asked again, I nodded and took in a deep breath to make sure the nausea had really passed before answering. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"I cannot even begin to describe how messed up this is…" Yuusuke muttered, "Is anyone going to tell us what the hell's happening, or are we all just gunna go out for fucking tea too?"

"I think if we are going to get anywhere tonight, it's up to Midori-chan." Kurama sighed, and then addressed me, "That is, if you're up to it."

I yanked my arm out of his hand and grunted, scratching my head. I wasn't sure if I should, but the voice helped me out, _Go ahead, play your game…but add a new rule…_ A new rule huh? In a second I knew what rule the voice meant so I shrugged and said to the group, "I'm game if you guys are but that's the only way I'll talk- through the game."

"What does that mean?" Kuwabara asked.

"Simple. We go in a clock wise circle and ask questions. You can ask anyone anything." I said. "For every question you answer, on your next turn you'll get to ask that many. Normally the only rule is to tell the absolute truth but for fun I'm gunna add one new rule."

"And that is?" Yuusuke waved his hand in a circle as if to say 'get on with it.'

I smiled at Kurama and Hiei, _Go on…_The voice encouraged. "That rule is you're exempt from one question you don't want to answer and you can never be asked that question- or anything along the lines of it- again. Oh, and because this isn't a team game, remember that all answers you must come up with _on your own_."

Hiei's face hardened and Kurama's smile lessened slightly. _Good, let's see who can out smart who…_

"So?" I clapped my hands together, "I'll say it once more; I'm game if you are!"

**Finally!!!! I've updated!!!!! Anywhozits, plz remember that if you want another update I'll need at least five reviews- which isn't much I know I have triple that in Story Alerters, so if you guys each quick write one… Anyway!! Hope you liked!! Sorry for another cliffie, haha, there mah drug! Btw, let me know if you spot errors, I was too tired to proof read (as usual) but I'll get around to it...**

**: Thank you sooooo much for all the support!! And hey, no promises but I might update faster if you update that Haunted By Love thing of yours. (Wink wink nudge nudge) **

**tiggeranddash****: No, no its not. I'd probably pay money to see that actually… Whelps, anyway I'm glad I can spread some Christmas Merriment! Er… in May… **

**Kyrie Twilight****: Look! It's your love woman! 20 questions!! XD Top three? I'm honored! (Bows)**

**HeeHeeHee01****: Yeah… Cliffies are my drugs… And look! Another one!! Bwah ha ha ha!!!**


	15. Let's play the game!

**Hey guys!! Sorry it took so long to update but i was working on a super duper extra long chappie to celbrate the start of summer!!!!!! Whoooooo!!!1111!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111 XD No more books and homework!!!!1 Anywhozits, plz enjoy!!!!111!!!!11!!!!!!!!!!**

"Tch." Yuusuke put his hands on his hips and kicked the ground. His eyes flashed up to my face, gauging my smile and trying to decided what hidden meanings could be held in my simple question. "You don't give us much choice do you?"

"Thanks, Yuu-chan. I try." I laughed, glad that despite my cute little appearance, I still had enough of a presence to make him wary. They say power corrupts; maybe it wasn't good that the voice had made me feel powerful, no matter how little. Regardless, I have to say I liked the feeling of having all the chips in my hands. One by one each of the boys agreed, each of them wary of the game regardless of past experience or not. That was pretty cool. And speaking of past experience, I'm fairly certain Hiei would have liked nothing more than to just walk away but, no matter what he says against it, I knew he wouldn't want to leave his friends or pass up a chance to satisfy his curiosities.

"So um, how do we start?" Kuwabara seemed like he was embarrassed to be asking a question and was probably wondering if this would count. Looking up at him, a sudden inspiration hit me. It would make sense that the first to wonder should be the first to start and I couldn't resist another shot at pissing Hiei off- I can't say I was mad or anything, I was still baffled about the events prior, but it was always fun to harass the small demon. _It's his fault for having such entertaining reactions…_ I told myself.

"Weeeeell, since you asked Kuwa, you should start." I told him, he seemed surprised and even more embarrassed at the thought of being the one to kick off the game. I winked and him and said, "Relax, this is for fun, ok? Ask any question you like and, as for who goes after you, clockwise is too cliché so how about we continue from tallest to shortest."

"Fine by me!" Yuusuke piped up and laughed, before adding, "What do you think _Hiei_?"

"Hn." I turned to the little demon in question to see red eyes flaming. He jutted his chin up towards me and said, "It makes no difference to me." '_Interesting… could he be taking you as a threat'? _My voice seemed completely unaware of Hiei and my lasting relationship of harass or be harassed, which I thought was odd, since wasn't it like my inner conscious or something like that? I decided that the question wasn't directed towards me anyway so, ignoring Hiei's comment, I turned back to the big, orange haired lug and announced, "Well it's settled then! Kuwa-chan, go ahead and pick your poison!"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean!?!?" Kuwabara looked completely horrified, I giggled. That's one thing I like about Kuwa-chan, his reactions are always way over the top which I think is adorable.

I wasn't the only one who thought it was funny, Kurama chuckled and addressed Kuwabara. "Don't worry, it's merely a metaphor. She simply means choose someone to question."

"I didn't realize I'd need a translator for Japanese too," I said with a roll of my eyes, "But thank you for that Shuichi."

"My pleasure." He grinned and, like the annoying bastard he is, could not resist adding, "Are you forgoing your own nickname rule now?"

"You don't get a nickname now." I huffed, "Now, I'm mad at you." To emphasize this, I stuck my tongue out at him, crossed my arms and looked the other way, trying my best to block out his chuckles. Distracted, I demanded of Kuwa, "Well? Go ahead and go!"

"Huh? Oh! Um… right…" Kuwabara stuffed his hands in his pockets and straightened himself up to his full height. He looked me up and down for a few second and then asked, "So who exactly are you? I mean, your energy feels weird and you haven't even given us your name. Are you even a human or what?" His words cam out in such a jumbled rush, the only thing I could manage to combat his questions was the stupid observation, "That's not one question."

Kuwabara made no comment and simply gazed at me. His scrutiny made me feel uncomfortable and small; to ease this I straightened myself up to my tiny five foot four compared to his towering statuesque form of six foot two. For a second, I wondered if I should stall for a second and see if the voice had any suggestions, but I decided that was stupid since I'd been fine without it. I regained my composure and looked up at the giant scrutinizing me.

"That's also a pretty mean thing to say, I have weird energy? Am I really human? Pssh…" I switched my arms from a cold shouldered position across my chest (which I'd obviously had for Kurama) to a scolding position on my hips. I threw one hand off my hip into the air and waved dismissively, "Whatever, not that I care really. Let's see, since this is your first time I'll answer both your questions. I'm Tikoto Midori and who, exactly, am I? Well that's subject to my emotional and physical state at the time. Currently, I'd say I'm a curious 15-teen year old ready to mess with a few minds. And yes, I am human, believe it or not."

Kuwabara opened his mouth to say something, closed it, and nodded. Yuusuke laughed and elbowed Kuwabara, "Interesting choice of words huh? I hope you caught all that- don't let those big words she used confuse you, professor!"

Kuwabara grabbed Yuusuke by the collar and shook him, yelling, "Just who the hell do you think you are Urameshi?! My test scores cream yours; I should be the one saying that stuff to _you_!"

"But ya didn't, did ya?" Yuusuke shrugged his shoulders like Kuwabara was a lost cause.

"Why you-" "I agree with the detective, you do seem a bit lacking in intelligence, fool." Hiei chimed up and, ignoring Kuwabara's repetitive dumbfounded shouts of 'Hey!' and "What the hell does that mean?", he glared at me with those piercing red orbs of his. _He_ seemed to remember why we were fighting and he didn't seem ready to give it up either. "It would also to be wise to follow that advice, 'Don't let her confuse you'. She seems stupid but she's not."  
"I'm gonna take that as a compliment and, being the forgiving person I am, overlook that Hiei-_chan._" Screw if I remembered why or not, I felt a familiar bit of rage lapping at the edge of my mind and I gritted my teeth together.

"Well then, I believe it would be my turn now?" Kurama, as always seemed to be the only one to keep his head together. I sighed and nodded. "Alright then, Midori-chan, would you mind telling me who the girl you spoke of earlier was? The one you said had a similar stench to the ogre, and please be sure to describe her clearly."

"Oh, er…" I tore my eyes away from Hiei, although I could still feel them on me, to look over at Kurama's vivid green ones. In fact, I'm pretty sure Hiei's eyes weren't the only eyes I could feel on me, my spine tingled. '_She wasn't a girl, she was a corpse. Start with that. The ogre was likely a lesser minion or possibly a puppeteer, make sure you mention that you took out the girl yourself.' _Alrighty then, at least I knew the voice actually cared about the situation at hand. I figured since I'd already mentioned the kimono girl it might as well be good to talk about it. "Well, she was pretty… had long black hair… um her eyes were had been ripped out so I can't really say what the color was, oh and her teeth were missing too… her skin was er… as white as a corpse…"

"Whoa whoa! Back up!" Yuusuke held up his hand, "Her eyes were fucking _missing_?! What the _hell_ kind of people do you hang out with!?"

"Yeah, white as a corpse?" Kuwabara yelped, "Was she even _alive_?"

"That's pretty harsh, I mean she could have been a hospital patient! And as a matter of fact, I think she was a zombie, so she was alive in some way!"  
"What the fuck does that mean!?!" Yuusuke and Kuwabara yelled almost in synch.

"I think if you'd like to know you should shut up and let me finish!" I growled, "Jeez, it's not that big a deal ok? I was playing in the forest- lost track of time- smelled something off and there she was ok?"

"What the hell did she want with you?!" Yuusuke asked and Kuwabara went white and started blathering about ghosts.

"Nothing! Wait no… that's not true, I don't know ok?" I was quickly finding it hard to play the game with these too, it was hard to brush things off and keep your cool when people were screaming bloody murder around you. "She just wanted me to come with her ok?"

"Did you go?!?" Kuwabara asked.

"How stupid do you think I am?!" I yelled back, "Of course not!"  
"Then what did you do?!" Yuusuke asked.

"Argh! If you two would shut up I could just brief you on it normally!!" I yelled getting more and more flustered, instantly regretting ever telling them about the girl and silently cursing Kurama for his question, "Of course I fought back!!"

"Did you aim for her head?" Kuwabara asked.

"Yeah! Everyone knows you can only take out a zombie if you shoot it in the head!" Yuusuke answered.

"If I didn't know that would I be here?!!?" I yelled back.

"So you did hit her in the head then?"

"I think I already answered the fucking question! Isn't it someone else's turn now?!" I growled, rubbing my temples. '_Failure. I would hope you can regain your composure before the next question.' _I decided I didn't think the voice thing was cool anymore and took a breath to steady myself.

"Ok fine." Yuusuke said, "Screw the specifics, why don't you just tell us everything that happened then."

"Try not to go into shock this time." Hiei smirked, knowing that those two idiots had blown my composure.

"Ya know what Hiei? You can just shove it up your-" "Midori-chan, please. Just answer the question." Kurama sighed. I wonder if, being surrounded by such hyperactive doses of it, he was starting to catch some of the stupid I felt infecting me in the current company I was in.

"Fine then." I turned to Yuusuke, subtly flipping Hiei the bird, and asked. "Everything as in my life story?"

"Just whatever the hell happened the day you met the zombie!"

"Alright… I was playing soccer with Shu-chan's little brother and we creamed that little black haired prat's team…" Kurama cocked his eyebrow but remained silent, so I continued, "Um… I think we were gunna go out and eat or something, but I said I'd catch up to them later because I wanted to go back to the forest. Let's see, then I went walking to said forest. No scratch that, I only walked half of the way and ran the rest." I knitted my eyebrows together as I tried to think of what other surrounding details happened before the girl showed up. '_You fell asleep…' _"That's right!" I clapped my hands, startling the others, "I fell asleep!"

"Are you telling me this was all a fucking dream!?!" Yuusuke seemed pissed and I shook my head.

"No, no. You told me you wanted the whole story! Well after I said bye to Little Shuu-ni and his friends, I went to the forest. I ran around for a little while and then I got tired so I took a nap!" Proud I remembered these details, I also went into the tiny details, "I think it was a meadow I was sleeping in, cause it was a big grassy clearing," I extended my arms to show just how big, "And there were lots of pretty flowers!"

"Oh, well that's just great!" Yuusuke clapped his hands together in a girly, dreamy motion, "And let me guess, you and your bestest buddy the zombie went to pick flowers and frolicked in them too!"

"I like your version better." I said and Yuusuke yelled, "Oh, will you just get on with it!?!"

"I forgot where I was now! Thanks a lot!" I sat down and put my head in my hands and thought for a moment, glad I'd regained my normal composure. "Hmm…" I swear Yuusuke's eye was twitching ever so slightly.

"Oh yeah!" I straightened up, but, since I was comfortable sitting I stayed on the ground. Instead I straightened out my legs and watched my shoes as I clicked my heels. "So anyway, I fell asleep in this really pretty meadow." I stoppedfor a second and corrected myself, "Wait no… I couldn't have fallen asleep that time, cause I was watching the scenery too… I guess you could say it was like relaxation trance kinda thing. Well whatever, either I broke the trance thing or woke up- whichever- so I decided to listen to the wind and pulled my knees up to my chest." Since I was already sitting down, I pulled my knees to my chest to demonstrate, then I closed my eyes and continued. "So I was listening to the wind when the scent it was carrying started to chance a bit. I think it started smelling like heavy musk or something." Eyes open now I looked over at Kurama, "Or burning roses." Kurama wrinkled his nose a bit, apparently familiar with the normally sweet flower's scent turning sour. "And then it started to smell worse and worse until it felt like, I dunno, death or something." I wrinkled my nose and snorted as if the scent had somehow wriggled its way back into my nose. "Anywhozits, naturally, the smell was a bit too much for me so I got up so I wouldn't puke on myself and then I promptly started gagging up a storm…" I wrinkled my nose and addressed Yuusuke, "Bile has the most awful flavor you know that?"

"Yeah…" Kuwabara wrinkled his nose, "I'd rather loose my lunch than have my guts come up…"

"I'd rather not puke at all!" I shook my head and dislodged the thought.

"So? Then what? You got sick and?" Yuusuke seemed to have his twitch-tastic eye under control and seemed slightly less harumphy. Still, I got the impression he wanted me to get on with it.

"Well, I heard a voice." I frowned at the memory, the eerie inhuman voice, and shivered. "I don't really know what it said; my brain was still garbled after that disgusting smell. I turned around to see where the sound came from and there was this totally pretty little girl in a kimono- it was dark so she was shadowed and it was hard to make out the details but as I looked at her more I noticed her kimono was charred and when she pulled out of the bow…" I shuddered, "Geez, I don't care what she was- no one's head should ever do that! Her neck couldn't support the weight -it looked broken- and her teeth were all rotted out, and like I said earlier I swear her eyes had been-" I stopped when I saw the look on Yuu-chan's face and shrugged sheepishly.

Not knowing how else to quickly say the story without further annoyment I took a huge breath and burst out in one huge, run on sentence that I swear any English teacher would be horrified to hear. "So then she was all like 'Come with me' and I was all like karate chop to the face, bitch! And then her head cracked open like a Mexican piñata and I was all 'that's totally gross' so I started all gagging again and then this creepy voice from nowhere was all like 'Oh, what a sensitive nose you have' and I was all like 'Freaked out?' So I took of running and the voice was all like laughing and crap and I was like 'Shit I hope I don't trip' and then a hand came out of nowhere and grabbed me and I would have started screaming and stuff but he covered my mouth too and then whoever grabbed me was all like 'Make a sound and you die' and I was all 'I'm cool with that' cause I looked up and it was freaking Hiei and I was all like 'Koolz' and then Hiei did his impersonation of the flash and disappeared and then reappear with a ogre's head that smelled like shit and I was all 'Ew get that thing the fuck away from me' and Hiei was all 'Ok' so he threw it and I swear I heard a splat and that's what happened." By the time I finished my lungs were on the point of imploding but that was kool cause Yuusuke seemed happy that I'd answered and I was excited cause it was my turn next.

"My turn!" I cried out in a singsong voice and jumped to my feet. "All right, so I get three cause I answered three questions."

"When the hell did that become a rule?" Yuusuke asked.

"Yeah, I don't remember that!" Kuwabara protested.

I was kinda shocked cause I meant to say all the rules earlier, I thought I did, but I guess not. "Oops, didn't I mention that?"

"No." They both answered, Kurama annoyingly stated the rules himself.

"It's a rule that prevents one person from being picked on. If you are asked a question, or if not, when its your turn you can still ask one question. However, if you've answered more than one you can ask as such." He explained and I slapped my forehead.

"Why do you feel it's necessary to explain everything _for_ me?" I asked, "Is it because I'm foreign? That's pretty racist."

"Well no… I just-" "Forget it!" I covered my ears. "I don't want to know, I just want to ask mah questions!"

"Then please proceed."

"As if I needed an invitation." I glared at him as I walked over to Yuusuke; I examined my nails and playfully elbowed him in the side. "My question is for you."

"Oh?" Yuusuke grinned, crossing his arms, "And what would that be?"

"Well... What's your girlfriend's name and list the top five favorite things you looooove about her." I drew out the word 'love' making it all gushy and flowery and gunk and giggled for good measure, swinging my arms. Yuusuke's face turned beet red, I wagged my finger at him, "Don't skim the details."

"H-how do you even know I _have_ a girlfriend?" Yuusuke countered, averting his face, "I can see how you might think that but what if I'm a lone ranger?"

"Oh I know you have a girlfriend. You and Kuwabara both. I overheard you at the Kitty Café I work at." I went back to coolly examining my nails, hoping the bluff wouldn't make me break the one rule the voice put on my question asking.

"Yeah, Urameshi, we were talking about 'em, remember?" He said, "What's the big deal? We all know you love Ke-"

"S-shut _up_!!" Yuusuke protested, "I do not, ok?!!?"

"So you're just using her? Nice." I sighed.

"Shut up! You don't even _know_ Keiko!" Yuusuke yelled and if to prove how much he _wasn't _using her, he also blurted out, "Why the hell would I promise to marry her if I was _using_ her or didn't love her anyway?!?!"

"Marriage, Yuusuke? I didn't realize you were so serious." Kurama chuckled and Yusuke froze, blushing shades I didn't know existed.

"T-that's just a thing we always said when we were kids ok?!?" Yuusuke yelled back, Kurama and Kuwabara laughed.

"So what about the beach of memories then?" Kuwabara asked, "You seemed pretty into her then."

"Of course! The beach of memories. Yuusuke and Keiko did seem to be enjoying themselves." Kurama added.

"Why don't you just admit you love her Yuu-chan?" I asked, "No one turns that red that fast over childhood promises, and don't forget those 5 reasons you like her too."

"You stay out of this!" Yuusuke yelled back.

"And yet I started this."

"Why you little!"

"So her name's Keiko?"

"Ye- SHADDUP!!!!"

I laughed and shook my head, "It's totally obvious, you're so flustered- that's adorable!"

"Who the hell are you calling cute?!?!!"

"Urameshi, you're digging your own grave…" Kuwabara had to muffle his giggles with his hand, "She's right why don't you just fess up??"

"Yes, Yuusuke, what harm would it be?" Kurama asked.

"Ah peer pressure." I sighed, "So fun… just give in and answer the question."

"W-well… I-i…" Yuusuke's big brown eyes darted around in panic, his face redder than Hiei's eyes- that was _saying_ something. Unable to take the pressure or embarrassment (so cute) Yuusuke finally just blurt out, "I'M USING MY DAMN CHICKEN OK?!?!!?"

I laughed, "Well, that's one down. You can't back out of the next question I have for you."

"S-shaddup!" Yuusuke's face was still very much red and he took to adverting his eyes from me and sulking.

"Wow, Urameshi…" Kuwabara shook his head in disappointment but said no more, Hiei scoffed and Kurama seemed thoroughly amused while Yuusuke ignored them all. I decided to cut him a break and went on to my next question.

"Ok then, same question for you Kuwa-chan- What's your girlfriends name and five things you love about her?"

Kuwabara blushed and tapped his feelings together. "W-well, she's not really my girlfriend yet…"

"Do tell." I gestured for him to proceed, watching Hiei out of the corner of my eye.

"Well her name's Yukina-" Hiei stiffened, as predicted, and Kuwabara blather on without notice- also predicted. "She's the prettiest, smartest, nicest, all around greatest girl I ever met! I don't think I could pick just 5 things I like about her, she just has so much to offer. She's really good at healing and stuff, she's and amazing cook, she's has the prettiest voice and these adorable little hands, she's always there for me, she a great listener and- gosh! Just everything about her!"

"Aw!" I'd always heard Kuwa talk about Yukina in the manga, but being in person to hear a guy talk so sweetly about the person he loved; it was adorable!! "That's so sweet Kuwabara!! And she's _not_ you girlfriend yet!? How come? It sounds like you'd treat her well and you love her so much!"

"Well I don't want to bother her or put pressure on her ya know?" Kuwabara scratched his neck and sighed, "Ya see, she's trying to find her long lost brother and is really worried about him. I don't think she's ready for me to make a move or anything, I mean, family comes first right? If Shizuru went missing I don't know what I'd do, that's why I gotta help her find him!"

"A noble sentiment, perhaps we should all assist her. Right Hiei?" Kurama smiled his mischievous smile and looked over at the little, enraged apparition.

"Yeah Hiei!" Yuusuke wrapped his arm around Hiei's shoulder's, "Let's all help Yukina find him."

Hiei said nothing, the skin over his knuckles turned white over his clenched fists. I giggled, his eyes were closed and he looked like he was trying not to kill Kuwabara. Of course Kuwabara didn't notice any of the group's hints and instead, blissfully unaware said, "Thanks guys!!"

I laughed and cleared my throat, "Speaking of siblings didn't you say you had a sister Hiei? Why don't you tell us about her?"

"What?" Kuwabara piped up, "You have a sister? What a gruesome, three eyed horror she must be!!"

"I'll kill you." Hiei muttered, casting a side glare at Kuwa so fierce I shivered myself. Of course that doesn't mean I'd back off.

"So Hiei-chan?"

Hiei glared at me long and hard. Those red orbs of his finally set my skin in motion, it felt like something was crawling under it. But I held my ground, and I managed to smile at him without forcing it. We both knew what he was about to use as his answer, Hiei was merely glaring in annoyance and I was smiling in my own little victory. Finally Hiei ground out, "Pass."

"Well then." I said happily, "That means both you and Yuusuke have to answer all questions from now on."

"Clever." Kurama sighed, seemingly impressed and upset. Probably 'cause Yuu-chan and Hiei-chan had so quickly lost their chickens. Whatever.

"Geez, she's pure fricking evil!" Yuusuke muttered.

"Ignoring that." I muttered darkly, smiling at Yuu-chan briefly (he adverted his gaze) before looking over at the small fire demon. "Hiei! Your turn!"

"Fine. I have a question for you." Hiei glared at me with those penetrating eyes and asked, "Do you have a multiple personality disorder? Or all human women this vexing?"

"Sexist much? And no, I'm just hyper and possibly hormonal- I'm pretty sure I'm gunna get my period soon! But even then, this is pretty much how I act."

"And what period are you referring to? A state of time when you're worse than this?"

I laughed out loud and gasped between giggles, "Something like that yeah." I shook my head and giggled, "But really. You don't know?! I know you're a guy and all but come on? Have you had the bird and bees talk yet then?"

Hiei's face blotched with pink and red hues. Not only did he look pissed and indignant, he seemed embarrassed. "If you would learn to talk in anything but those ridiculous riddles of yours, maybe I'd understand what the hell you referring to!"

"It's not a riddle Hiei, that what 'the talk' is called." I made air quotations as I said ' the talk' and readied my right forefinger and made a hole with my left hand to demonstrate. "When a mommy and a daddy love each other very much…" "Ok! I think that's enough for right now!" Kurama knocked my hands apart just as I was a bout to put two and two together and looked at me sternly. "You don't really think this is necessary do you?"

"He needs to know this! What about safe sex? And condoms? And sky babies?!!?" I cried.

"Um… sky babies?" Kurama dared question.

"Ya know, the ones that fall out of the sky and teen girls pick up to 'raise as their own'." I rolled my eyes, "Honestly kids these days- what do they teach you?"

Yuusuke laughed, "No, Kurama, don't stop her. She's right, Hiei _should_ know. Besides," A mischievous, not to mention perverted, grin weaseled it's way up his face. "I want to see how she tells it."

"I tell it with Harry Potter music!" I announced, and began humming said theme song; thrusting my forefinger through the makeshift circle on my left hand. Kurama knocked them apart again.

"Midori! Please!" He chided, "I don't exactly think this is the way you should teach him."

"I don't know what the fuck you want to _teach_ me but I can tell you I don't give a fuck anymore!" Hiei was fuming, either he caught the innuendos (hard to miss unless he really _didn't_ have a clue) or us going on about him needing to know this like he was some child was the source of his major color change- and that was pure rage not blush. I also took this moment, since Hiei and Kuwabara were still next to each other, to look at the big lug and see how he was taking this. Kuwa seemed to be taking this in probably the cutest (and maybe most perverted if you thought about what he might be thinking) ways for a person to handle a sex conversation. He just stood there; blushing madly, pretending he couldn't hear anything. But, uh, being the child I am, I was less focused on Kuwa's pose and more on the particular swear word Hiei used.

"Do you know any _other_ meanings for fuck besides swearing?" I asked, Kurama slapped his forehead in a 'why bother' motion and Yuusuke's grin widened and he parroted, "Yeah Hiei, _do _you?"

"…" Hiei didn't responded, eyes smoldering and he gave a characteristic, 'hn', crossed his arms across his chest, looked away and asked (I swear this time it was a blush), "Such as?"

"Like in olden days 'fuck' used to mean 'sow' so people would fuck the fields," Yuusuke muffled a laugh and I rocked back on my feet, drawing out the next word dramatically, "Annnnnnd… it also means-" "All right then!" Kurama clapped his hands together and blocked me from a curious Hiei's view before I could come up with any more, not too subtle hand gestures, "I think you've answered Hiei's question. Who's next? Kuwabara?" Kurama cast a pleading look in Kuwabara's direction that seemed to say, 'Shut her up _now_ please!'.

I laughed at the supposedly calm Kurama's flustered appearance. I nudged him lightly to get his attention while Kuwabara was asking Yuusuke a question (most likely insulting him which quickly lead to the two boys rolling on the ground brawling) and whispered in his ear, "I hope _you_ plan to be the one to tell Hiei then."

"Hiei's a big boy, Midori. But I'll be sure to tell him." Kurama's voice came out in a flustered sigh; I sighed and told him I 'supposed' that was an agreeable statement. I noticed Hiei was glaring my directing so I flashed a smile and peace sign, he scoffed and took to watching Yuu-chan and Kuwa-chan fight.

"Um… if you two are quiet done now, I believe it's my turn." Kurama followed Hiei's lead and was watching the fight too. He sighed when they didn't listen and decided to wait for them to finish. I on the other hand was not so patient. Reaching down, I yanked off both of my black heels and promptly chucked them at Yuusuke and Kuwabara's heads. Both hit their marks with a satisfying thump.

"Ow!!" They both complained reaching to the afflicted area. Yuu-chan turned on me, brown eyes flaming and demanded, "What the hell did you do that for?!?!"

"I didn't hear the question, but I'm pretty sure it's done now." I walked over to them, glaring and held out my hands to them. "Now gimmie my damn shoe back."

"What?! So you can throw 'em at us again?" Kuwabara asked, pushing Yuusuke off him so he could get to his feet and then proceeded to wipe dirt off his pants. I noticed he was holding my shoe in his hand so I prompted again, "Shoe please."

"Fine. Here." Kuwabara deposited in my hand. I thanked him, slipped it back on and turned to Yuusuke, holding out my hand.

"Yeah, yeah…" Yuusuke muttered scratching his head and dropping the shoe into my waiting hand. I slipped that one on too.

"Ok, Shuichi. Floor's yours." I said, turning back to the red head. He quirked a perfectly shaped eyebrow in question, I sighed. "It's your turn, right?"

"Oh, yes. That's right." I rolled my eyes; apparently, he'd been too absorbed in my mastery of shoe-fu to remember. He stood there, hand resting on his chin for a few painfully long seconds then he laughed. Not just a chuckle, but a laugh. One that he was soon, trying to politely hold in - which was failing miserably.

"Uh…" I pointed at him and looked at the others for some kind of explanation. "Is he ok?"

"I- I'm fine…" Kurama choked out in a most certainly not fine way. I mean if he died of laughing, how would that be fine? I voiced this question, which, much to my annoyance just caused him to laugh harder. Worse, Yuusuke and Kuwabara got in on the act and soon three out of the five of us were blue in the face with laughter. Annoyed, I turned my attention to the only sane one in the group; Hiei.

"So, uh." I turned to him, not really knowing what to think of the three laughing teens. "Does this happen a lot?"

Hiei looked away from me, hiding a smile and said. "They're laughing at _you_." He chuckled. I stared in disbelief, even Hiei was laughing?!? Well, a short chuckle but still. _Hiei_? He watched me with bemused eyes.

"Oh well excuse me!" I shot back hotly, "I didn't realize I was so funny! Forgive me, next time I'll prepare some jokes so you'll have more than just my face to laugh at!"

"I'm sorry…" Kurama chuckled. It seemed like he'd gotten most of it out of his system, "It's just- you're not like I'd expect."

"Hm…" I pretended to reach into a nonexistent pocket in my costume and pulled out a clipboard. Then I pulled out an invisible pen and wrote. "Note to self; become more predictable." I looked up at him and said, "I'll see what I can do."

Yuusuke shook his head and laughed. "That's kinda what he's talking about kid!" He sauntered over to me and gave my back a slap so hard that if my clipboard and pen were real I'd imagine them skittering out of my hands.

"So what the hell even brought this on?" I asked, grabbing Yuusuke's hand and gingerly taking it off my back. I turned around to face him. "If you're just figuring this out now I must say you're kind of slow."

"It isn't that we just noticed now." Hiei said. "The stranger something is, the harder it is to understand. I still don't understand you."

"Oh, I get it. Humor is the best way to deal with a situation." I turned to Kurama, pleased I'd figured it out. "That's why you started laughing, right?"

"Actually, no." I raised my eyebrow, hoping he'd elaborate. "It was your, er, unique way of acquiring Yuusuke and Kuwabara's attention."

I looked down at my heels and sucked on the inside of my cheek. "So in Japan…" I said slowly, unearthing a pebble with the toe of my heel. "It's_ not_ normal to throw your shoes at someone. Dually noted."

"It wouldn't be normal anywhere!!!" Kuwabara yelled, and rubbed his head. "Geez. I can still feel the bump."

"If you could still feel anything, wouldn't you be whining about Yuusuke? Didn't he sock you in the stomach earlier?"

"Yeah. But it's Urameshi, I'm used to it."

"And you're not used to being pelted with shoes?"

"Um… no?"

"Psh! Typical."

"What's that mean??"

"Oh nothing."

"If I may," Kurama interrupted, "I'll ask my question now."

"Shoot." I waved my hand. "We were waiting for you to control that hyena blood of yours."

Kurama smiled, "I appreciate your patience."

"Right…"

"Midori, would you mind telling me why you came out here tonight? Any and all reasons."

"Well that's an easy one. 'Cause I was bored and wanted something to do." I smiled at him.

"Is that all?" He persisted and I rolled my eyes.

"Of course not, duh." I jabbed my thumb at Yuu-chan, whom I just realized was still standing directly behind me. "I wanted to talk to him and Kuwa. I bumped into them at the arcade and then Hiei appeared by magic or something and now you're here."

"I see. However, why did you want to talk with them?"

"That's not part of your original question."

"If the answer is part of the reason you are standing in front of me now, then yes, I believe so."

"This is true."

Kurama and I watched each other for a few minutes. Finally, I shrugged and said, "No reason. Just couldn't resist a chance to talk with the spirit detective is all."

Kurama stiffened and relaxed himself so quickly that I wouldn't have noticed had I not been watching for that exact response. Kurama's eyes quickly looked down before settling back on my face. "I see…" He mused quietly.

"Ok, enough of this cryptic crap!" Yuusuke's arms wrapped themselves around me so fast I yelped in surprise. He rested his head on top on mine and said. "You mentioned that before; how do you even _know_ I'm a spirit detective anyway?"

"Is that your question?" I asked, "Because it's your turn."

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Yuusuke mumbled. It was kinda weird how he was randomly holding me- but not entirely uncomfortable. It was like a backwards hug. I could smell his breath and feel his muscles underneath the thin fabric covering my back. He was well sculpted to say the least, but I'd already known as much. Still, a drawing doesn't compare to the real thing and I found myself vaguely wondering what he'd look like without his shirt in _real _life. Thinking about Yuu-chan topless instantly made me think of the whole lot of them topless (Come on now- I'm a young girl surrounded by hot, well built guys) especially Kurama, who never seemed to get topless in the first place. This ultimately made me forget I had a question to answer but luckily, Yuusuke gave me a quick squeeze when he deemed I'd been quiet too long.

"What?" I asked. "Oh, sorry, I was thinking about something."

"Like?" He persisted.

"You topless." I said, without really thinking about it. "Oh, wow. I did _not_ mean for that to come out. Ah well, it's kind of hard _not_ to think of when I can feel your muscles through my shirt. Kind of _majorly_ distracting."

Yuusuke laughed but didn't let go, "Tell ya what. If you want to see me topless so bad I'm willing to make a trade."

"Such as?"

"I'll let you see me topless if you let me see you."

"Tempting, but no."

"All right, your lost though…"

"Yeah right. I bet I'm way hotter topless than you, muscle boy."

"Care to prove that?"

"Thanks, but again no."

"So are you gunna answer my question or are you just going to fantasize some more?"

"Hm. The latter seems pretty tempting."

"I know; tough choice huh?"

"You know, maybe it'd be easier to answer you if you let go of me now."

"Fine…" Yuusuke sighed; I could picture him rolling his eyes. I spun around to face him and he asked, "Better?"

"Much." I laughed and so did he. "All right then. How bout that answer?"

"Ready when you are."

"It'll be more dramatic if you restate the question." I said resting my hands on my head.

"You forgot the question didn't you?" Kuwabara snorted in disbelief. I smiled and said, "Yeah…"

Yuusuke shook his head, smiling to himself. "Ok then. How do you even know I'm a spirit detective anyway?"

"Let's just say I'm a fan." I said. _"This question is taboo. You may need to use that 'chicken' as you called it."_ Aw, the voice was back. I'd forgotten about it. It seemed pretty annoying now. _"However, you could get around this. Say that you saw the dark tournament and figured as much. See if they'll be satisfied with that- it's not a lie." _Annoying, but useful. The only rule to the game was to tell the truth and I _had_ seen the dark tournament. My inner convo happened so quickly, I managed to continue my new, modified sentence without losing a beat. "Of the Dark Tournament, that is. I saw you up there and figured as much."

"The Dark Tournament?!?!" Yuusuke asked, "But how do you even know about that?!"

"That's not part of your question- besides, it was on television." I said.

"But only to a very limited audience." Kurama muttered, I winked at him and said. "I have my ways."

"Apparently." He agreed.

"My turn!" I announced, then paused. "I forgot how many questions I answered."

"Three. One from Hiei, one from Yuusuke and one from myself." Kurama said, I grinned and thanked him.

"Ok then." I put my finger to my chin and thought and mused, "What do I want to know now?"

"Maybe you'd enjoy learning how to speak normally without half-assing your answers and adding riddles to anything you'd rather not mention. We're only tolerant of this ridiculous game because it's the only way you'll talk and, even then, I question the worth of wasting our time with such a low bred species like yourself." Hiei vehemently spat.

Bewildered, I held up my hands and exclaimed, "Whoa, there! Unnecessary venom much!? Do you always have to go around bearing fangs?!"

"It wouldn't matter if I did or didn't, nothing seems to penetrate that thick skull of yours."

"It's penetrating far enough to let me know your insulting me!" I shot back, indignantly. Yuusuke snickered, most likely from the word 'penetrating' and I yelled at him. "Oh grow up!"

"Hey! Don't get hormonal on me!" Yuusuke defended, "You're pissed at Hiei not me, remember?!"

"I'm not pissed at anyone!" I shot back, "I'm getting irritated though. Why are you suddenly hating on me Hiei? Was it because I fell asleep, cause I did not plan to."

"Hn." Hiei glared at me. "I'm 'hating' on you because I don't enjoy taking care of weak creatures such as yourself and loathe it even more when that particular weakling seems to think every second of it is a game."

I just stood there utterly dumbfounded. That one particular word he used managed to worm through all other defenses for shrugging off insults. This was a word that I could not, would not, shrug off. Weak. Behind me, I could hear the other boys expressing their shock. I was shocked myself but mostly I was angry. I was angry at Hiei and I was angry at my own weakness. I didn't care how it would make me look and I didn't care to think about how much I'd regret this- not to mention how embarrassed I would be when I looked back on this tomorrow. I didn't care because it wasn't tomorrow and I wasn't embarrassed. Hiei had been on my nerve all night, spiting me and making me seem incapable. But this was it, the final straw. The damage had been done, the sensitive core of emotion my being was built around had been criticized. I had been called _weak_. Me. A woman in front of men, called weak. A stereotype I'd tried so hard to break. A terrible word that haunted my innermost dreams. In Hiei's eyes; I was weak. I wanted to break that beautiful jaw line of his. Claw out his ruby eyes. Tear out his fine black locks. Kick him where the sun don't shine but mostly, I wanted to prove him _wrong._ And I wasn't afraid of breaking a few of my bones to do so. I didn't care if the most damage I could do to Hiei was the equivalent to a young child tackling a fully grown man. Because if I backed down and let him say that terrible word to me, I would be just what he said. Weak.

"You did _not_ just say that to me." I laughed, shaking my head not in mocking humor but in sheer utter disbelief. I kicked the ground with the toe of my shiny black heels and put my hands on my hips, trying to get the wording out of my head. Maybe I heard it wrong? For his sake I hoped so because this was his one last chance for him to try to take back those terrible words.

"Say what?" Hiei scoffed, a cruel humor glittered in his eyes, I vaguely heard Kurama trying to prevent Hiei from saying what I knew the pompous bastard would, he continued without heed. "Oh, I know. Was it call you weak? Because you _are. _But, wait, that wouldn't bother such a thick headed woman like you, now would it?"

"Mmm…" I gritted my teeth. _One. Last. Chance._ _"Don't take his bait…" _The voice warned. Fuck that. "I can be thick headed, but wanna say that other word again? Go ahead, I dare you."

"Weak."

"That does it!!!!!" I bellowed, all rational thoughts flew out my head to favor impulse. I crossed the short space separating us in two short, powerful strides and flung my body straight into his torso using the momentum I used to get to him again to carry us both to the ground P.E. level 5 style. Unfortunately, Hiei is far more used to combat than I am and he recovered from the initial shock just in time to kick his legs into my midriff while I preformed this tactic and sent me flying back just as he collided with the ground. I wasn't gunna let myself be taken by such a simple tactic. I twisted my body around mid-flight and dug into the ground with the back off my heels. Still, Hiei's blow was strong enough to send me skidding for a few feet and before I even came to a full stop, Hiei used his own speed to duplicate my level 5 P.E. hurdle.

I yelped, not from pain but shock, when I felt the hard ground bite into my back. Hiei had managed to straddle me and had a firm hold on my wrists. That was okay, though, because, while yoga isn't used for combat, it could be for a creative mind. My hands were already pinned into the proper position, so I threw my whole body up into the shoulder stand position. If the move hadn't been so unexpected and Hiei hadn't been so small and light it wouldn't have worked. But it did. He flew over me and landed on his back. Unfortunately, for both of us, he was still holding onto my wrists. Faster than it would have taken you to say 'uh-oh' the velocity I used to send Hiei to his back sent me soaring right after him and we landed on each other in a painful jumble.

Since neither of us had any leverage in an awkward sideways tangle, I rolled to my side. This ended in both of us rolling down the small hill, clawing at each other and yelling insults. By this time, I had already said 'fuck you' to Japanese and was swearing the way you're taught in good ol' America.

Once we reached the bottom we both jumped apart. Standing across from each other and sizing the other up. I made the first move. A round house kick to the side was only too easy for Hiei to brush off with a knock of his hand. But that was much too simple for him. He wrapped his arm around the offending leg instead and, pivoting on him left heel sent me towards another tree. I heard one of the boys- probably Kuwabara- yelling at Hiei how he 'can't treat a lady like that'. Hiei didn't even glance over at whoever said it, his eyes were too focused on me and I was too busy plotting how to break his pretty white skin and, at the very least, cause some bruising. Once again, I used my vast resource of past athletic experience to avoid injury. Another gymnastic spin righted myself just as I hit the tree feet first. I pushed off the trunk of it and tried to slam into Hiei again, but he dodged. I planed on using another roundhouse to knock away any blows he'd hit me with from behind but as luck would have it, I stumbled and fell to the ground. Luckily, the fall allowed me to dodge Hiei momentarily but he still managed to hit me from behind and sent me sprawling across the grass.

Throughout the duration of the scrimmage, I could feel my body heating up. As I'd never been in a fight before I kept telling myself it was just the initial adrenaline. However, by the time Hiei had sent me into the ground I finally registered that this was _not_ adrenaline. And I _wasn't_ just hot and bothered either. It was like my whole being was a cast iron tea pot- each heated exchange between Hiei and I left me warm and warmer. It wouldn't be took long before the shrill high pitch whistle broke through the air letting all around know the tea was boiling. And I wouldn't be able to handle that much heat. As Hiei and I continued our head first collisions against one another, kicking and scratching and insulting all the way, I could feel myself beginning to boil over. Oddly enough, I got the impression that Hiei was dealing with something much the same. Maybe it was just adrenaline? Hiei collided into me and once again straddled me. This time he clamped my hands far above my head making another shoulder stand impossible. I wouldn't have been able to even if he had put me in the right position. The heat surrounding me was too intense and I could feel myself slipping in and out of consciousness. I'd tasted adrenaline before and I _knew_ this was just my weird and useless talent of absorbing heat from anywhere and anything.

Hiei growled out something and squeezed my wrists. _I look forward to more purple bracelets…_I thought to myself dryly. I noticed Hiei seemed kinda tired too. Looking up at those gemlike red eyes of his, I felt a stab of anger. Without any reason to believe I'd succeed in the attempt, I started to struggle.

I didn't like him on top of me. I didn't _want _him on top of me.

It wasn't like the first time I met him, his close proximity shooing away the invisible flames lapping at my body. No. He seemed to be the one _causing_ them. I started to panic, my whole body felt like it was a coal lit ablaze. And suddenly it was as if Hiei never existed. All I could feel was the unbearable heat surrounding me. And it hurt. A lot.

I felt as if a giant hand had picked me up and began to squeeze every ounce of fluid out of my body like an overly ripe lemon. All I could see was blindingly white walls and all I could hear were my own choked screams. Everywhere I looked was this white light as if it were bursting through my very skin and building up behind my eyes. It seemed like the gateway to heaven or a padded white room from an insane asylum.

This observation led me to believe, for one wild moment, that maybe I was hallucinating and acting out my encounters with the gang thus resulting in my placement in this blindingly white and possibly padded room. That thought flew out the window as more pain compressed my ribcage, squeezing the very last of my air out; colored splotches found their way across my vision, dancing like show girls and twirling about. I could feel myself teetering on the brink of consciousness; random images flashed across my vision and I no longer trusted myself to distinguish between the real and the dream. One particular image assaulted my mind like a battering ram, as if a bruised body wasn't painful enough. With a sudden sick realization, I remembered I normally _wouldn't_ feel this. I was naturally immune to nearly all physical sufferings but, apparently, I wasn't immune to whatever my stream of consciousness could cook up. I was getting confused; was the pain real and I slipped into this bodiless, drifting state of mind for protection? Or was I suddenly trapped within myself? It was like a horrible, painful nightmare I couldn't wake up from and to make it worse, that strange image was becoming clearer and clearer- until it seem as if I was hovering in a newly painted room and each wall held that same image. A cloaked figure, with horribly sharp teeth.

_Let's play a game…I know a fun game we can play Naiara…_ My voice suddenly flowed into my head. Loud, painful, distorted. Each word reverberated against the walls, moving with the picture. The picture itself had come to life, I could see the sharp teeth working every time a word was uttered. Chewing and spitting it out like a carcass it would devour for its meal. _Let's play Naiara… I know you'll like this game, your mother did…_

Suddenly the voice wasn't the voice in my head. It had completely distorted into something cold, ruthless and unwholesome. Just listening made my spine prickle and my body fought against spasms of panicked nerve as my brain tried to decided if I should flee. Somehow, I seemed to muster up the courage to yell back at the voice. I didn't care that it wasn't talking to me, I didn't want to hear this hooded demon anymore.

"GO AWAY!!!!!" I screamed. Invisible hands clutched at my elbows and held me roughly. I struggled, but remained immobile. "WHAT DO YOU WANT?!?!"

_I want to play Naiara…_

I wanted to scream that that wasn't my name. That this _thing_ should leave me alone. Just listening to the voice was causing me physical pain and my eyes watered with the tears it brought to my eyes. But even if I wanted to, I couldn't speak. It felt like I was immersed in water. I couldn't even breathe; my lungs swelled and my body felt eerily light. The voice continue to say something, my lungs felt like they would explode. The invisible hands had moved from my elbows to my waist and tried to pull me deeper into the black waters of my consciousness. I fought with everything my aching, air deprived body could provide, but that wasn't enough.

The hooded figure laughed; the scream of burning human beings couldn't even being to compare with that noise. If I had to hear it once more I knew I would go insane.

_Don't be like that Naiara… Let's play that game, it really is fun and easy to play… The best part is that you get a prize if you win, we will both bet something… Isn't that fun? Now what should we bet…_The voice paused; a slow smile crawled up the features of the hooded wall-beast's face. I tried to fight against the hands grabbing at me, trying to delay what I knew was a losing battle. _I know…If I win… you will give me your __**life**__… _

The hands over powered me and I was suddenly sucked into the void.

**Alrighty then, so this is a humongasaur chappie to kick off the start of summa!!! Srry it took so long to update… finals meh… Since this chappies a beast and I'm way tired now, let's say I'll update in 10 reviews? Thanks so much for your support guys and hope you liked it!! Now let's go to the answer segment!**

**YuuYuu-chan: Don't worry, it's staying. Anywhozits, I agree- I enjoy writing about such an… er… opinionated character. As for the voice… you'll have to keep reading to find out! XP**

**Kyrie Twilight****: Glad you like the story!! How's about them updates? It's huge!!!! XD**

**Doctor pepper girl(srry, the thing keeps deleting ur name!): I'm glad mah descriptions have the power to up Yuu-chan's sexiness! XP And yeah Kuwa is fun to write about- I think the main reason he isn't written about much is because he has such a unique and hard to capture character. And because of that unique and not normally see character some people hate him or find him too bothersome to write about. I won't lie- I have A LOT of trouble with Kuwa-chan, but when he's done right I love it!! And I look forward to a battle of the updates!!! XD Thanks for understanding the review frustration, it's hard. Especially since I have so little free time now that I'd rather work on more positive stories, ya know?**

**HeeHeeHee01: What's this I see? More cliffies!!!!!!!! XD Hope the questions didn't disappoint + I hope you have enough patience left over for this cliffe!**

**Anime-Kunoichi: Well you'll just have to stay tuned to find out, won't ya? XP**


	16. Thank You Mr Slap Angel!

**Ok. So I got reeeeeeeally bored and not only made this chappie, but a Darkest Before Dawn (same story but from H&K pov) and was wondering, isn't summer supposed to be all active and fun in the sun? Then I realized I am messing around in the sun for about 4-5 hours a day but somehow my internal clock is messed up and I can't sleep until the clock strikes 12… actually more like one… this inevitably leaves me with hours of darkness in which I get bored and, VOLIA! New chappies!! I have to say though; I wouldn't have posted this if I hadn't been bored to tears and let me say why.**

**I'm so glad that everyone loves the story and I love writing it. But here's the thing, according to my author alert/watchers this is my most popular story which enthralls me, but here's the catch- out of twenty three watchers only three bothered to review. Maybe I'm just bitching and impatient (It's only been a week) but it seems like all my watchies just decided a comment wasn't worth their time and I feel a little taken for granted. I mean, you all said you wanted me to keep this story alive, and a lot of work goes into a story- no matter how ridiculous the plot is. All I'm saying is could you guys back me up a little more? Don't worry this isn't a threat where its all 'review or no chappies… **_**ever**_**', after all I said that since you guys wanted me to keep it I'd keep the story and I'm sticking to my word. Just wanted to know how you guys like it, I mean, I always wonder how you guys like it. As long as you're not torching my eyebrows off I love to hear a little constructive criticism. **

**Anywhozits, sorry about the rant. A girl has to vent sometimes ya know? Thank you all for reading this story and thanks even more to HeeHeeHee01, Dr. Pepper Girl and WishingWanderer for all the extra support. Hope you guys like the chapter! It was pretty fun to write but sadly now that it's done I'm still bored… Ah well, I suppose I'll go see if pineapple is microwavable… **

Drowning… that's what it felt like. My body was heavy… so heavy. And it was hard to breathe… Wait. Holy shit! It really _is_ hard to breathe! I'm surrounded by total darkness, I can't feel my weight and now I can't _breathe_?! Pleeease don't tell me a white light is coming to dampen this already disastrous situation with _clichés_. If a white light really is how you're brought to heaven, then I swear if I get out of this I'm committing suicide. Aw, crap, wait. What if hell really does have a spandex freak in a red leotard prancing around stabbing people in the tush with the freaking triton? Dying has always been _very_ unappetizing but if this is the way to go it just got a whole lot worst. And awkward. Bad awkward. Like a live comedian who isn't funny and is trying so hard that you imagine you're him and you end up groaning and covering your eyes the whole time.

_Dammit, Midori, focus! This is no time to speculate the costume choices of the after life! Right now, I need to think of something- anything- to fix this! I swear sometimes I could just slap myself_… Apparently, when you're dying, your last thoughts are you're dying 'wishes' so I guess the wish angels or what ever just fucking slapped me upside the head cause I _know_ I wasn't feeling any pain before that thought. Another painful blow rain down on me, but this time Mr. Fun-time-Wish-bringer missed and slapped me right in the stomach! No, that was on purpose because it fucking happened again! At least its not a cliché but come on! Who the hell taught these angels how to grant wishes?! First off, sarcastic thoughts are _not_ wishes- especially if they involve bodily pain. Second, if I really wished to get my ass slapped all the way to wherever I was going- stomach slaps were _not_ regulation! Thirdly, if wishes _were_ being granted they should inform the person, cause I'd rather crash into God's office in a rollercoaster than be slapped so hard I ended up splattered on his fucking family portrait of Mrs. God and Little God Jr.

These speculations were halted again but another odd sensation. It felt as if someone had just grabbed me and yanked me so hard my arm could possibly have come off as they towed me in some godforsaken direction faster that a fighter plane. If the slaps were a bitch then this was its love child with fuck. As I was towed painfully towards wherever I suddenly started regaining my senses. Loud, confusing noises rained down upon me. Crashing, cursing, blowing. I wanted to scream it was so much.

And just like that I found myself bolt upright, eyes snapped open. I was alive. I still couldn't fucking breathe, and my eyes were doing that weird splotch thing so I didn't really know what was happening. I didn't care though. Even as I coughed up lungs of what tasted like seaweed and gagged as it dribbled through my nose, I didn't care. All I knew was that I was freaking alive and I had never been so grateful of anything in my life. _Thank you slap fairy! I swear from this day forward I will give some tiny, unimportant portion of my life to religion! _

"So you're still alive…" The voice was aloof, uncaring and slightly disappointed. I punched at that general direction and coughed up another lungful of whatever the hell I swallowed, scowling at the area I punched until my vision cleared enough for me to see Hiei's face. Well, peach smudge with bright red dots- but that was good enough for now.

"Y-y-you…" I gasped and coughed up some more crap. What the _hell_ had I swallowed? It took all my effort to double over and cough out another lungful as well as the choice sentence ender I needed. "B-bastard…"

"Hn." I saw that Hiei was sitting on a rock, and now that I was fairly sure I was done gurgling on the ground I noticed that the ground under me was… shifting. "Is that how you thank the person who saved your life?"

"S-saved?" I asked. Wait. The weightless feeling, not breathing… Had I been _drowning_?! But we were nowhere _near_ a beach! But… I dug my hand into the ground and yanked up. It came up easily and slide through my fingers, glinting gold in the sunlight. Sand.

"That's right you idiot." Hiei growled and walked over towards me. I couldn't gather enough strength to look up, but Hiei was kind enough to fix this. He grabbed my chin and forced it up; I nearly bit my tongue off. "I don't know what the hell you did during that little fight of ours, but you better tell me where the hell you sent us." He pushed me back, _hard_. I ended up on my ass with a yelp.

"Now just wait a minute, Hiei!" I yelled indignantly, forcing myself to my feet and brushing off the sand on me. "I'm just as fucking lost as you are! I should be asking _you_ questions! Saved me how!?"

"You transported us right into the center of a fucking ocean you idiot! Or were you too busy hacking up Atlantis to notice that?!!?" He threw his hand up behind him as if telling me to take a gander at what was behind him.

In fact… now that he said that I was noticing things. I noticed that behind him was a vast, beautiful ocean. I noticed the sand was glittering with the last few rays of sunlight. I noticed… Hiei was topless? And wet. Soaking wet… Yum.

"Is that all you can think about right now!?!?" Hiei exploded and grabbed me by the collar, dragging me down to his level. "We have more important things than you're perverted fantasies!!!!"

"Oh, come now Hiei-chan. If I were as sexy as you and were prancing around wet and topless I think you'd change your mind." I smiled and grabbed onto his hand, tugging it closer to my collar bone so I could make it extra awkward when I made my next statement. "And do you mean to tell me I was drowning? Don't tell me I missed out on CPR!!" I looked up at him through my eyelashes, "Then again, I might need it now, if you'd be so kind Mr. Hero."

Hiei, most likely remembering events in my room shot back faster that a jet. "You're insane!!" He cried from his new found position nearly halfway across the beach. I laughed.

"You're only finding that out now?" I yelled back.

"Hell no!" He shot back, "But it's getting more apparent every second I spend with you!"

A little buzzer suddenly went off in my head. Wait a tickit… I never _said _Hiei was…er… yummy aloud now had I? Enraged I voice the question. "How the hell did you _know_ I was thinking about you?!"

"That's none of your concern." Hiei's eyes glinted like flint and he didn't bother to even move closer when he said it; I barely caught the words it was such a low, fierce growl.

"Alright fine, ya little monster!!" I yelled indignantly. I could take name calling, molestation and physical abuse but I could _not_ handle anyone being in my head. How had I forgotten that Hiei was a mental?!!? How could I forget that those were the very people I try to avoid and why I always thought of false combinations when I typed in my password or went to my locker? I glance around behind me and, to my immense relief found a leaf green forest just on the beaches boarders. I pointed to it and yelled at Hiei, "Alright ya mental! I'm going in there and I'm gunna go find out what the hell _you_ did _on my own_! Ya got that?"

I didn't care if Hiei got that or not. And I sure as hell didn't care if he _was_ the person to save me. It was probably his fault we were here anyway, after all, since I got here I learned some things the anime never mentioned. That and neither the anime nor manga when far into Hiei psychic power crap. For all I knew, the dense underbrush I was leapfrogging over could very well have been an illusion projected on the inside of my mind. If I knew anything about mental is that tin foil blocked them and distance effected them. The further the distance the harder it is to hold on to the power and, even if Hiei himself was an illusion, I could try getting away and seeing if I could break it.

I was so obsessed with my latest invasion of privacy I hadn't noticed something… _eerie_ about the forest. Like the fact that no birds were chirping and I couldn't hear wind coming through it… And the plants seemed… scared? Dead? I'd never felt that kind of aura from a tree. I chose one; a large gnarled tree with a reddish brown trunk just off to the left, put my hand on it and closed my eyes trying to focus on its manna or whatever. It was just this feeling ok? I heard a noise echo through the base of the tree and what was weirder? It sounded _alive_. Maybe even human. I shuddered and pressed myself further against the tree.

"AHHHHHHH!!! GET OFF ME!!!!" A hand suddenly grabbed my shoulder and yanked me back. I kicked and screamed until whoever it was pined my arms to my side in a death hug and yanked me down to cover my mouth.

"Calm down you idiot." A voice growled roughly in my ears and pushed me away into the tree I was listening to. I spun around and, go figure, guess who I find. Hiei, the little bastard, glared at me with those red orbs of his; sadly though his top was back on. However I made sure that these thoughts were in _English_. _Decipher that you little bastard…_

"Why the hell are you here!?!?" I yelled angrily; I didn't want him to know I was glad to see him. Something about this forest was just wrong. A shiver ran down my spine and I shuddered.

"What were you doing?" Hiei demanded. I rolled my eyes and pushed myself off the tree so we were face to face… sorta.

"You can sense… uh… energy and crap. Right?" I knew he could, but asking never hurt. Unlike him I wouldn't bring up things I knew about him unnecessarily. I'm fifteen ok? Right now the only thing I care about is summer and boys… and smoothies… actually virgin pina coladas cuz their yummy… with those little umbrellas, oh yeah. And food. Food is nice…

Hiei stared at me like_ I_ were the loathsome little mental who would dare trespass on his sanctuary. F.Y.I., that refers to 'a man's body is his temple and him mind is his sanctuary.' Don't know who said it but I love and _live_ by that quote. "Why do you want to know?" He growled.

_Oh for the love a'!!! _Screw trying to be nice about this! I was tired and frustrated and unnerved and he couldn't even answer a simple fucking question! My leg was already in the right position, forming a triangle with his legs. So naturally, I resorted to violence like the barbarian I am. Hey, he did it to me when I didn't answer his question, it was only fair. I yanked his arm over my shoulder and rammed my hip into his stomach; this ended up sending Hiei spinning in a circle around me and slammin right into the tree. I pinned his arms up against the bark; high enough that he had to go up on his toes slightly and, just in case, I positioned my leg near his groin in case he decided to get snippy with me.

I looked down to meet Hiei's eyes and nearly lost my 'don't mess with me' composure by laughing. A look of complete shock and bewilderment was evident in wide, gem like red eyes of him. Of course, the second he heard a tiny little snort escape me he looked ready to kill. Before he had a chance to get anal with me in I asked him, "So? Don't you feel it?"

"Feel what?" Hiei snarled. "If you think this little tactic of yours will change my opinion of you to anything but disgust and spite, you're sadly mistaken."

I laughed, "Sorry to confuse you wild fantasies about my sexy body, but I meant the tree, you dolt. I really don't care if you hate me more because of this; you started it."

"You-" "Shh!" I glared at Hiei, "I'm not done yet, mister! Now do you or don't you feel it?"

Hiei turned his head and tried to get a better view of the tree he was up against, his eyes closed and his mouth formed a tight frown. With each second the frown seemed to deepen. When Hiei opened his eyes again I found I was holding my breath. "So?"

"What are you?" Hiei muttered so quietly that if the forest hadn't been a ghost town I wouldn't have heard it. Hiei raised an eyebrow at me as if to say 'what's your point?' "It's dying. There's nothing special about it."

"Nothing special?! Don't you tell me that! Don't you feel it?!" Frustrated I let go of him and turned away, wrapping my arms around my body. "This forest… it's quiet, there's no birds and the trees are mourning… what the hell happened here!?"

"I don't think you want the answer to that." Hiei muttered. "It's getting dark and if we don't want to be a part of _this_-" He gestured around to the dead zone surrounding us. "-then we better get moving."

"Yeah but-"

"_Now._" Hiei snarled, I couldn't help but rear back slightly. I took one last look at the tree, running my fingers over the bark, before I ran off to catch up with Hiei's retreating figure.

**Yay! So there you go! Just what the hell is wrong with the forest? And does Hiei even know where he's going? I don't know, or maybe I do. You'll just have to wait to find out! XD**

**HeeHeeHee01: Don't worry! They already thought she was crazy! XD**

**WishingWanderer: Powers? Why I have no idea what you're talking about. (Laughs nervously)**

**Dr. Pepper Girl: Srry bout the name again. This was the easiest way to make it stick! XP Yeah, why **_**is**_** it the birds and bees talk? If they really can have sex then I demand hybrids!!! I still think you're beating me by A LOT with the update battle thing… well whatever! Oh, and you have a nice summer too!!! **


	17. Nipples

"Why do boys have nipples?" I finally asked Hiei. I knew it was like a recessive gene and, depending on your gender; you have one of two different useless items that would have been useful if you were the opposite gender. For boys, it was nipples that would have blossomed into breasts had they been women. For girls, it was the clitoris which would have been the head of the penis had they been guys. Wait… that wasn't useless… that was an organ used solely for pleasure. Hm. Did that mean boy's nipples were their pleasure organs? Or did only women get that benefit in the otherwise useless parts department?

"Where the hell did that question come from?" Hiei asked in exasperation as he sidestepped a gnarled tree root. It looked like a human arm, reaching up in hopes of claiming a victim. Yikes. I quickened my pace slightly, shortening my normal lag of 5 feet or more to less than a foot behind Hiei. Lagging was for hiking in _pleasant_ terrain where it would be fun to get lost if your partner went too far ahead of you. This place was _not_ a place I wanted to get lost in.

"I dunno. I guess seeing your nipples made me realize how utterly useless they are." I shrugged. Hiei chanced a looked over his shoulder to raise an eyebrow at me.

"Why am I not surprised that you would bother to question how functional someone _else's_ body is?" Hiei grabbed a branch and, meaning to push it aside, accidentally tore it right off the tree with a thunderous crack. I shrieked at the noise and instantly latched onto Hiei. Embarrassed, I sheepishly smiled at Hiei and stepped back a little. He glared and dropped the branch, leaving it directly in my path, forcing me to scramble over it. I was almost completely over the branch when it grabbed onto my already dirty, tattered uniform.

"Fuck you, Hiei!" I yelled at him as I tried to yank the dress free. Hiei looked back, seemingly interested in helping me but I gave him the finger and said. "I can handle it myself."

I tugged on the dress again but the branch wouldn't let go. In fact, it latched on to the fabric on my belly too. Frustrated, I growled at the offending stick. It was like it was laughing at me… If it wasn't already dead you could count on me being the one to kill it. I tugged again.

"Don't just pull on it." Hiei rolled his eyes. "You have to untangle it first."

I heatedly turned towards Hiei and all but snarled, "I _said_; I can handle-" A loud, terrible ripping sound echoed in my ear. Hiei's eyes widened slightly and he turned around, immediately, muttering something like 'I told you so'. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth. Forcing myself to breath deeply through my nose. I looked down at myself. And sighed, oh well. It didn't matter anyway, my sex appeal was zero for Hiei so I doubt he would care if I paraded around in this. 'This' being black, spandex biker shorts, pink stripped bra and my black work dress that was ripped so far up the seams that it barely resembled anything other than a very tattered towel draped off my left shoulder.

"Well then." I said, tugging the last ripped piece of dress free, glad I'd worn the shorts. Yes. I did have very adorable matching underwear to go with that pink bra but you had better believe I was glad I didn't have to show that off too. "I don't care." I told the branch. "In fact, I _like _it this way. So sad for you branch. And in fact, you can have my heinous heels too!" I threw my heels, which were broken anyway, at the stupid branch. I even added the cat ears- screw it if Ai-chan got mad at me. There was no point in wearing the fucking shredded dress so I chucked that too. Whatever. It was just like walking around in a bikini. Something I never wore but there was no time to get prissy about looks when the sun was setting so quickly.

"Walk." I commanded Hiei, shoving him in the back. He sighed.

"I told you… so what? That dress of yours is destroyed?" He asked in a tone suggesting exaggerated patience that very nearly covered up the annoyed undertones. I rolled my eyes.

"No. I just like making ripping noises and swearing at trees." I said with enough sarcasm to turn fluffy bunnies into acid.

"You're so useless." Hiei sounded like he was in pain. Picking up the 'Why am I stuck with this moron' vibe from him, I turned around, crossed my arms, and kicked the branch with my bare feet sending out vicious 'I hate the world, why am I stuck with this asshole' vibes.

"Shut the hell up! Let's just go, it's getting dark!" I snarled and gave the branch another good kick just because I could. There was some rustling noise behind me and, curious, I peeked at Hiei with my peripheral vision. My jaw dropped. I spun around and demanded. "What are you doing?"

"What does it look like?" Hiei shot back not even bothering to glance over at me. Left with the question, I tried to decided what it did look like. To me, it looked like Hiei was taking his cloak off but… he couldn't possibly mean to give _that _to me? Wasn't Hiei supposed to be cold hearted and laugh at me while I stumbled around without shoes and proper clothing? Before I could come up with more reasons why this was impossible, Hiei held out the cloak towards me and said simply, "Here."

"Oh." I said softly. If you had asked me ten minutes earlier what I would have done if this happened I would have laughed. I'd have said it would _never_ happen. And if it did I would have said I didn't take hand outs. I would have asked if he was mocking me. But… The act was so simple, so _chivalrous_ and he did it without any snarky remarks or gloating. It was so unlike him, so sweet all I could say was mumble, 'thank you' and blush like an idiot as I put it on. I didn't even comment about it's size; too short for me, stopping mid calve with sleeves only three quarters in length, or make any jokes that it stunk like he did. Actually, it smelled really nice… Like pine sap and wood fire. Wild, just like he was.

"Is it on?" Hiei's voice shocked me; I was so lost in the simple gesture.

"Yeah…" I said, feeling stupid. What else could I say? There were no magic words that could tell him the gratitude I felt for him right now. He glanced back at me, gave a quick jerk of his head, then glanced at my feet.

"Can you walk like that?" He asked. I blushed, wondering if he was actually suggesting carrying me.

"Yeah." Watching the doubt flash in his eyes I quickly added. "I walk everywhere bare foot and I don't clime trees wearing shoes cause they spread disease. My feet are so callused I could go for miles without feeling anything."

"I'd believe that." Hiei grunted and started walking again before I really processed that comment.

"Hey!" I yelled indignantly running after him, I swear I heard a snort. Jerk.

The one good thing about walking around until the sun went down was that your eyes instantaneously adjusted. So when it got pitch black I was able to see well enough not to fall flat on my face. Okay. Fine. I fell on my face anyway. But only, like, _once_.

"Ow!" Okay twice. _Just_ twice.

"Dammit!" Hiei yelled. "That's the seventh fucking time you've fallen!!"

Seven sounds like two okay. Easy mix up. "Shut up Hiei." I muttered, "We're not all blessed with freakish vision like you are. I'm only _human_ remember?"

"Obviously." Hiei growled. I heard some of the leaves crunching next to me but was too busy concentrating on the ground as I got up so I wouldn't fall again. Needless to say, it scared the shit out of me when Hiei grabbed me around the waist and slung me over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Put me down!!!" I yelled, pounding on his back. All the little bastard did was jostle me so hard, I don't care if it was unintentional or not, that I nearly bit my tongue off. That would not discourage me though. "Fuck you! I can walk!!"

"No, you can't. You can't call that pathetic crawling of yours walking." Hiei growled.

"I swear to god, if you don't put me down I _will_ knock you out!" I screamed, "If that happens I hope you realize we'll _both_ get eaten by a mountain ogre or zombie or whatever the hell else could be in these woods!!"

"And how do you plan on doing that?" Hiei was already walking.

"I know pressure points ya spiky haired little bastard." I snarled.

"If you're so unconcerned about us getting eaten why don't you yell that a little louder?"

"What the hell does that mean?!?!"

"Nothing. I just figured if you _want _us to get eaten it'd be nice for them to locate us with that screaming of yours." As soon as he sarcastically spat out these words, my blood ran cold. Hiei was absolutely right. If I kept screaming we really _would _get eaten.

"Fine then." I hissed. "I won't yell. But I will fucking claw your back up if you don't let me go. I told you I can fucking walk!"

"You do realize your feet are bleeding right?"

My last fall I _had_ caught my foot on a stone. In fact, with the loss of light I had been walking into a lot of things I would have normally avoided. I quietly thought about this concept and then told Hiei flatly, "Bite me."

"In your dreams." Hiei scoffed. The little bastard was _really_ pissing me off. I was about to snap back at him when a yawn burst through my lips. I guess I was kinda tired. Today was pretty exciting after all.

"Hey Hiei." I muttered sleepily; it was if the yawn was a magic occurrence that forced weariness onto my body. I vaguely wondered how long we'd been walking. "Are you tired?"

"That's none of your concern." Hiei muttered darkly. I yawned again and watched the back of his feet as he trudged onward.

"That's why I managed to pin you to the tree, huh?" I muttered, "You're just as tired as I am. Maybe we should set up camp."

"If we're both tired and go to sleep now, I guarantee we'll both die." Hiei's gripped tightened slightly as if he was horrified by the idea of resting. "In a place like this you have to either find high ground if you're to sleep by yourself or take turns watching if there's two; in fact, your best bet of living through the night is to have both and even then it's uncertain if you will survive."

"Is that why we've been walking for hours?" I asked irritably. "What if this forest takes _days_ to cross? You can't go that long without sleep."

"I _told _you." Hiei snarled, his grip was starting to hurt but I was too tired to care. "It's none of your concern."

"'Course it is…" I mumbled, my eyes were starting to feel reeeeeeeally heavy.

"And why's that?" I could feel Hiei tense underneath me, which for some reason made me yawn again.

"'Cuz you're my friend…." I sighed, taking in his wood sap smell again. It was really comforting and Hiei was really warm. The lull of sleep was too much and despite trying to stay awake, I couldn't help but succumb to the temptation. I didn't even know what Hiei said after that or if he'd bothered to comment at all. By then, I was already gone.

**Yay travel sequences!! Sorry no action here guys, but it's coming… oh believe me, it's coming… (evil laugh) And lookie! Aw, Hiei actually was gentlemanly! Er… well up until he flung her over his shoulder… that's not the way girls want to be carried… XP**

**Ereneviana: Yup, Midori is da shiz! XD She's so fun to write about. **

**Sour patch kids12: So… the pollen is like the sperm and the birds and bees roll around in another species reproductive cells then roll all over the next flower so it gets 'pregnant'… Scientists are weird…**

**Dr. Pepper Girl: Maybe I already have beaten you… Muhahaha! Just kidding… or am I? XP Thanks for all the support. I swear if it weren't for you I wouldn't have been able to continue this story. I always feel all happy when I get to read your reviews. XD Hiei topless is sooooooo hot. When I wrote the pinning him to the tree thing so many un-Midori things popped into my head for her to do to him… like rape… XD I'm such a bad girl… If I was in that forest I think I'd cry, not fall asleep. I'd kill myself before that… DX It's fun/scary writing things like that, your ttly right. **

**Bhel-Elryss: It's ok, thanks for the review!! (Hugs) And yes… Hiei and CPR is an orgasmic picture… XD**


	18. Portable Antiseptic

You know that feeling where you know your going to wake up but just can't because the bed is just too comfy and warm? Yeah, that's where I was right now. Mmmm… so relaxing, I could lie like this forever… _Wait a minute… _My eyes snapped open and I shot up, alarmed. I mean come on, wasn't Hiei dragging me off caveman style? Why would I be lying on my back?? I tried to stand up but found I couldn't due to an abnormal amount of weight on my stomach. Unable to see what it was in this dim lighting, I shifted my weight onto my elbows so I could find out what the hell was going on.

I could feel panic setting in the pit of my stomach as I examined my surroundings. Squinting, I found that the walls were dark and gray; sunlight seemed to be leaking in from one of them in a thin, dome shaped line. What the hell? Was a fucking _boulder _blocking the exit?!!? What the hell did Hiei _do_ while I was sleeping?! I tried to get up again but the only thing I managed to do was increase the pressure on my diaphragm. Still unable to tell what it was I did what any logical person would do, I poked it.

"Nngh." I heard a moan and felt whatever was on me snuggle further into my stomach. Hm… that moan just happened to be deep, smooth and very, very alluring. Yup. That was Hiei. What the hell did he do? Barricade the door and just collapse?! If so he must've been hella tired. I poked him again, hoping that would wake him up. I tried this several times.

Ya know what I learned today? Hiei sleeps like a fucking corpse!! "Wake up!" I commanded, poked Hiei again and tried to shake him off. The only response I got that told me he was even alive was another moan and something that sounded like 'shut up'. _Goddammit Hiei! Who the hell _moans_ in their sleep?! _He was seriously turning me on without any consent of my own and I did _not_ want to be turned on right now. Right now, I wanted the feeling back in my legs. But ya know what? When Hiei groans or mumbles in his sleep it sounds like a fucking sex noise and with a voice like his that is a _very_ dangerous weapon.

Unwillingly, I found myself taking in details I didn't want to take in. Like the fact that his fiery woodsap smell was also another alluring feature of his and I could feel his heavily muscled chest rising and falling with his gentle breathing. That thin blue tank top of his didn't cover up all the… erm… details through the fabric. An idea struck me that didn't sit to well with my already over stimulated mind, if I could feel him, couldn't he feel me? If he wasn't unconscious I would have been majorly creeped out but still, probably, very allured. Frustrated, I glared at the tiny specks of light and clenched my fists. I would try shoving him off one more time before I snapped. A girl could only take so much unwanted arousal.

Naturally, because the world has to be difficult, Hiei didn't move. Thus I resorted to threatening. "Ok, Hiei." I bellowed, glaring down into the darkness where I knew he was still coddling my stomach. "If you don't get off me right now, I swear to god, I _will_ end up raping you. Intentionally or not."

"Wha?" Hiei mumbled groggily. I could feel the weight on my stomach lift slightly, probably so he could peer up at me, and took the opportunity to shove him far enough away for me to reclaim the lower half of my body.

"You're _not_ helping the matter!" I yelled at him when this act extracted another displeased, yet still very sexy, groan from him.

I stood up and brushed myself off; I could hear Hiei yawn next to me. Ignoring that, I carefully picked my way over to the wall that had bits and pieces of light poking out and put my hand on it. Yup. That was stone. Running my fingers up and down the smooth surface, I found two perfect grooves to place my hand on and shove it with all my might. The stone must've weighted a ton. It took all my effort to move it barely an inch, thus I invested in a better tactic. I put my back into it, gritted my teeth and shoved. Once again, the stupid stone hardly moved at all, at least I could stick my finger out now, that was a plus.

Hiei's snores echoed off the cave walls and I, knowing it would take forever to move the stone, decided to invest in his help. I got onto my knees so I wouldn't trip on him and groped in the dark until I could feel his back. "Wake up sleeping beauty!" I hollered and shook him, again. When he didn't move, I smacked him, _hard_.

"I thought women were supposed to be _gentle_ creatures…" He growled, I could feel him starting to move under my fingers so I pulled my hands back to allow him up.

"Ya well, you know what they say about stereotypes." I got up and went back to the rock, threw my weight against it again and yelled at Hiei. "Are you going to help me move this or not?"

Thank god, Hiei had switched off from tired (sexy) groans to angry (annoyed) growls. "Move over…" He grumbled and shoved me. I think he meant it as a light tap or something, maybe he was just too tired to control all that macho inside his portable little body, but I still couldn't help getting hella pissed when that 'light tap' set me right onto my tailbone. "Jesus!" I yelped and rubbed the afflicted area. "Be more careful, hulk!"

"Do you want me to move it or not?" I swear I could feel an intense glare radiating through the blackness causing my neck to prickle. Cursing to myself, I got back up on my feet just in time to see Hiei's out line give the rock a shove. Unlike when I shoved that stupid overgrown rock, it willingly obliged and rolled away a foot or two each time Hiei gave it a shove. Blinded, I covered my eyes from the intense sun as I stepped outside, Hiei didn't even seem fazed by the task he'd preformed. "Showoff…"

In the sunlight, I could see Hiei's adorable, screwed up bed head and his shirt had shifted to the side enough that I could just make out those delectable muscles of his. I promptly punched myself in the face. What the hell had gotten into me? Damn hormones, if I get my period out here someone _will_ die."

"What the hell's wrong with you?" Ruby red orbs widened in confusion and Hiei's soft pink lips parted in an astonished 'o'. I just he wasn't too familiar with people punching themselves, on the positive hand, at least he didn't look like a walking corpse anymore.

"Oh that?" I asked. "Studies show that a good punch to the face in the early morning helps wake up your body and curb your hunger." I stuck my tongue out at him and glared, "What the hell do you think I was doing? I'm trying to wake up from this nightmare."

"How's that working for you?" Hiei spat, narrowing his eyes.

"Fine, thanks." I pointed at his hair. "Nice 'do. Very Vogue."

"You should talk…" He muttered and ran his fingers through his hair. His very shiny and soft looking hair. Dammit, I was getting ready to punch myself again. To keep busy, I yanked out my pigtails and pulled my hair back into a messy ponytail. I noticed that no matter how many times Hiei squashed down that hair of his it still managed to deify gravity and I was going to ask him about it when a better question came to mind.

"So why did you barricade the cave?" I twirled the ends of my hair and started to braid them, no use wasting my extra scrunchie.

Hiei looked annoyed and spiteful. "You were right." He spat. "There _is _something wrong with this forest but it's not mourning like you said." _I did?_ Whoops. Forgot that conversation, forgot about the forest too. Hiei continued despite my mind flapping off somewhere else. "They're _sleeping_… and these things wake up at night."

"Sleeping?" I don't know why but that word sent a shudder down my spine. Ignoring it I turned around, eyes closed and took a few steps forward, shrugging to myself. "But come on. Are you telling me the reason we bunked in a cave is because _trees_ tried to _eat_ us? That's completely-"

"Open your eyes." I did and instantly wished I hadn't. Not even an inch from my face was a branch, but what sent me skittering back on my ass wasn't just the tree, it was the shape. It looked like some humanoid creature was trapped inside the tree and, desperate for life, it tried to claw its way out. Looking closer, it's face seemed to be screaming in frustration and looking back to where it was pointing I saw… our cave. My blood ran cold, tremors running up and down my spine, I covered my mouth and took deep hyperventilating breaths. Suddenly, the conversation I had with Hiei last night came flooding back.

"So… that feeling in the trees…" I got up shakily and quickly backed up towards Hiei. "They weren't dying or mourning just…" I gulped. "_Sleeping._" Another tremor ran up my spine as I said this. I forced myself to look at the other trees, all of them grabbing at the cave entrance. Their faces were angry, malicious and ravenous. I could imagine not many creatures were foolish enough cross these woods and they hadn't had the chance to have a meal in a long time.

"Don't tell me you're going to go into shock now." Hiei's tone was neutral, uncaring and slightly annoyed but I knew he was just trying to keep a level head too. Not that he'd admit it, but I had a suspicion that I wasn't the only one getting a case of the hebbie jebbies. Who wouldn't be at least a _little_ freaked out by this kind of situation? Hiei continued on and said, as if to reassure me, "You were fine with the ogre."

"Because its only _one_ ogre!" I spun around to face him, "You weren't scared either. It was about as scary as a kid in a bed sheet pretending to be a ghost! But this! It's like an army, you can't take on a forest! There must be thousands!!" I looked around at the trees, their evil, withering forms and shuddered. "The very ground we walk on is a part of them and carries their chakra!! They can _sense_ wherever we go, sleep or no sleep! Don't tell me you aren't a little freaked out too!"

"You weren't awake last night." Hiei said coldly, his body tensing and his eyes flinty. The words set off a red light in my head, just what _had_ happened? On reflex, my eyes started roaming his body. Like most animals as well as humans (thus my suspicion that it was no different with demons), defensiveness was one of the first signs of panic or fear, especially in the case of injury and, judging by Hiei's attitude, I had a feeling he might not be at a hundred percent. I found the problem almost instantly.

"What the fuck happened to your leg?!" I gasped, Hiei's eyes flickered down and he tried to take a step back, which only made a slight limp evident. The fabric was torn and twisted in a double helix up his calve and looked like something long and thing had wrapped around it. I had a feeling that that certain something just might be the long, thin, gnarled arm of one of the tree-beasts. But Hiei wouldn't admit if I was right or wrong.

"Nothing." He growled, jutted out his chin and puffed up his chest so that everything about his posture to his glinting eyes read 'Just drop it'. I wouldn't. Especially since, according to my mental chalkboard, this was the third time Hiei saved me (I also had a feeling I was partly to blame for the injury) and I finally had a way to help him. I sighed and bent down, Hiei jerked back as if I were a loathsome creature that could taint him by touch; I rolled my eyes and had to hold in a giggle when his jerky behavior caused him to stumble. Because I'm a nice person, I decided to catch his lithe, tiny form before he hit the ground with painful jolt and gently set him down instead.

"Knock it off." I said sternly and grabbed his foot so he couldn't yank his leg back before I started rolling up his pant leg. I winced as Hiei, fuming, dug his nails deep into the ground (this was especially unnerving because the immediate ground around the cave was _stone_) and watched with unwavering eyes.

"I'm fine and we don't have time for this." Hiei said briskly, making me think he was a little less than fine. I looked up; the sun was still new in the sky and getting brighter every minute. Oh, yes, we were losing so much time before night (it must've only been nine or ten), looks like we needed to start the doomsday countdown.

"Nice try." I said, wincing inwardly at his leg's ruined state. "But we still have plenty of daylight; I think we can spend a few minutes on you." Purple and yellow bruises created the same pattern on his skin that it had on the fabric. Gently, I applied pressure to the middle of his calve and watched his expression carefully. He remained neutral for a second before he dug deeper into the ground and gritted his teeth, insisting that he was 'fine' again. But he wasn't. I felt dread as I considered the possibility that his leg could be broken or his ankle might be sprained. Sighing, I got up and went over to the closest tree. It didn't look nearly as scary now that I was determined to get something from it but, sadly, it was still hella creepy.

"What are you doing?" Thank god, Hiei hadn't moved from his spot, maybe he couldn't (hopefully). I wondered vaguely how he'd gotten up in the first place and moved the boulder with that leg. Maybe that groan of his was a pain noise, which more or less translated to it really _was _a sex noise or… _FOCUS!_ I yelled at myself, yanking what looked like a slender arm off the tree, grimaced, and then plucked off a couple large, surprisingly still green, leaves from a bush.

I walked back over to Hiei, ripped the leaves, and blotted up some of the dried blood where skin was been torn. Hiei yelped and I jolted back for a split second, then angrily said, "Don't _do_ that!"

"Then stop messing with it!" I got the vibe he was about to yank his leg back and grabbed his foot before he could do so.

"All right, this might hurt." I sighed, "But I need to know if anything's broken."

Hiei just nodded and tightened his grip on the ground. I took that as an ok and gently started squeezing the skin along his bone line, luckily, the area where it hurt him most was his ankle- most likely sprained. Now that still sucked but out of the two choices, I'd rather it be a sprain rather than broken bone which took longer to heal. I broke the arm branch in half and held it against his ankles to measure the height, then broke another inch off each side. Taking the leaves, I tore then into long strips and tied then together so I had one long, sturdy bandage. I knew that if I didn't have some form of antiseptic he might get gangrene or some other shit so I gave Hiei a long hard glare and said. "If you kick my face, I _will _kill you."

"And I'd have the chance to do this when exac-" His words stopped in a startled gasp the second my tongue touched his skin. Thankfully, Hiei knew why I was _licking_ his leg so I didn't have to answer any stupid questions. We both new that the natural chemicals in saliva was a weak but effective antiseptic and since I didn't have anything else with me, this was the best I could do. I swear, if he was Yuusuke or someone who _didn't _know that, it would not only be very hard to keep them still enough to properly clean the wound, it would also be freakishly awkward. Like a bad pickup line that not only doesn't get a favored response, but a period of silence where it hangs in the air awkward. I keep myself busy with random thoughts like this so my more 'enthusiastic' side of my imagination couldn't fully register just who I was licking. After, I was sure I'd clean all of the wounds, I sat back and gave his leg one final inspection. Satisfied, I picked up the sticks, held them to either side of his ankle with one hand, and began wrapping his calve with the leaves. I tied a good, strong knot at the very top of the wounded area of his clave once I ran out of bandages and ran my fingers back down it to make sure I'd applied it correctly. I did.

"There we go." I grinned at Hiei, not really expecting any praise or thanks but because was glad anyway because I was sure he'd be ok now. I was surprised to watch Hiei look away; cheeks tinted a soft shade of pink and mumble something. I stared, not daring to believe what I heard and stupidly asked, "What was that?"

Hiei looked back at me, his cheeks darkening in color and he said a little louder. "Thanks."

"Well your welcome cutie!" I giggled and, unable to stop myself, gave him a hug. He was just so adorable I could eat him~! Also on impulse, I gave him a little peck on the cheek, which made him tense and, to my delight, his face molted into a color that rivaled his eyes. Since Hiei was too shocked/angry/flustered to speak, I let him go and beamed at him. His cute, timid little thanks still ringing in my ear. "Do you want me to make some crutches for you?" I asked, Hiei shook his head and moved to get up but I quickly got to my feet and picked him up bridal style.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!?" Hiei screeched and struggled to get out of my grasp.

"Sorry Hiei." I said, "But you need to stay off that ankle. You can walk some more tomorrow, ok?"

"Like hell I'm ok with that!!" He snarled, I giggled and said.

"Oh how the tables have turned; like they say 'You reap what you sow'." We both knew I was referring to my own unwillingness to be carried last night. "By the way." I added, "_This_ is how you properly carry a girl, Mr. Hero."

**I just wanted to say thanks so much to all my reviewers!! You have no idea how excited it made me to see them all!! So excited in fact, that I wrote this too- I know, I'm a nerd with no life. But I'm a nerd who can write so you love me!! XP**

**Bhel-Elryss: Wellz, I have to say Hiei deserved that. Revenge is sweet. Like candy. XD ****No, I don't think Hiei knows how lucky **_**he**_** is. Getting to be carried by Midori! Squee~!! (Clears throat) Er, I mean, yeah. How bout that Hiei? (Shifty eyes) I know what you mean. I'd ttly die if Hiei was all chivalrous and shit for me! XD **

**Valinor's Twilight****: Close… but not close enough. Actually, to be perfectly honest, when I write a story I never have a distinct pairing in mind, it just happens to fit the plot and well… happens. So you may well be right or there could be nothing at all, we'll just have to wait and see! XD**

**Doctor Pepper Girl: Don't worry, you're not slowly going insane. Ok, story behind both my previous updates being ch 17- I was posting '18' (the new seventeen) when I realized that in my save files I had no record of ever actually writing it as 18 because I saved under 17. I checked all my files, each added up to the story, but somehow I had on chapter too many, apparently when I was still updating weekly (which we all know I failed with) I posted '13' as an authors notice so I never actually had a '13'th chapter. Annoyed by this, I promptly deleted the notice an Wala! Another seventeenth chappie. Yeah, I noticed my reviews have picked up some more too! I'm so glad that people are telling me what they like/dislike now- it helps. Still though, I must say I enjoy your reviews best! XD (Looks around at insulted other viewers) Er… I mean… it's the thought that counts? XP **

**Yoli16: No, thank you!! XD**


	19. Was That A Dream?

"Ok. I spy with my little eye something… _pointless_." Hey, the rules of 'I spy' was to say one _descriptive_ word. Clouds had no points; let's see Hiei find this one! Since it was rather awkward just wandering through the forest with Hiei grumping about, I'd forced him into a game of I spy to keep my easily bored self entertained. Besides, it was a good game when you needed to remember tiny details and it was helping brighten my attitude- demon trees were not the only thing this forest held.

"My life." Hiei droned lifelessly, crossing his arms and glaring at his ankle. After about two minutes, I was seeing a severe lack of enthusiasm (not that he had one to begin with) and he was starting to get moody.

"Hey you, if anyone has a right to be brooding right now it's me. Now be happy blast you."

"Fine then, let me try harder." Hiei pretended to think. "Something pointless, huh? Oh I know!" The viscous sarcasm made me think an insult was coming, "_Your _life."

"Ok, fine then. Why don't _you_ name something?" I shot back bitterly.

"Alright," Hiei shifted himself so he could straighten up and look about a bit better while perched in my arms. "I see-" "I _spy_" I corrected. "I _spy_ something-" I rolled my eyes and cut Hiei off again, "It's 'I spy with my little eye'." "I'm _not _saying that."

"Fine, continue." Hiei glared at me to make sure I wasn't going to cut him off again and I made myself look uninterested and innocent by concentrating on my feet so the both of us didn't go crashing to the ground. Seemingly satisfied, Hiei continued, "I spy something…" _I spy a smirk, _why_ do I spy a smirk?_ "Inflated."

_Oh, that's why._ I gritted my teeth and looked sternly ahead. But, knowing he'd just _want_ to see me pissed, I gushed in a falsely cheerful voice, "Oh I don't know! That's tough!" (fake giggle) "Hey, could it be _my head_?!" The end of my sentence dropped off the happy scale right into scathing sarcasm.

"Wow, you're good at this game." Hiei returned nastily.

"Ya know what else I'm good at?" I returned with an equally nasty tone, "_Softball._"

"I'd rather be dropped off a cliff than stay in your arms any longer!" Hiei shot back and, as if to prove this, tried to squiggle out of my grasp. Spotting a stream up ahead and, realizing that neither of us had had food or water today, I decided it was time for a little break anyway. Like hell I'd admit it but, Hiei was no pixie; after an hour of walking I couldn't feel my arms but I persisted only because I knew Hiei couldn't walk on that ankle, no matter what he said. That and his sword, which I'd forgotten about until picking him up, had probably made a permanent dent in my hip- I couldn't fathom how he could bear carrying it everywhere.

"Your wish is my command." I grumbled irritably, plunking him not too gently on a rock next to the stream. I found a couple more leaves and started to rip them into thin strips. Weaving back and forth, I made a sturdy little patch out of it with frayed ends that hadn't been tied to anything yet. I made two more of them for the top and bottom then wove them all together into a cup. Kneeling next to the stream, I dunked the cup into the cool water, stood up and thrust the makeshift cup into Hiei's stupid face. "Here."

Hiei eyed the cup and took it from me but surprisingly, his eyes weren't full of suspicion or annoyance. Actually, he seem slightly impressed. "How did you make this?" Hiei asked, poking gently at the sides as if expecting all the water to come gushing out, it didn't.

"Camp. I got my community service for school last year as a camp counselor and my troop ended up ah… _camping_ a lot."

"Got lost?" He smirked, taking a sip from the cup.

"Shut up." I growled and went back to the little stream and dunked my hands into it. "I got an award for being the most creative counselor there! My campers loved me, course they thought I _planned_ all the trips." I shook my head regretfully but if we hadn't got lost so much I wouldn't have had enough opportunities to put all the stuff they taught the counselors into action. I mean, I learned how to make the cup during our art lessons but I didn't need to perfect it until we were out in the woods without tin cups. I shook my head and brought a handful of water to my mouth but paused and, instead of drinking it, watched the water trickle slowly out of my hands. For some reason, I thought I'd seen someone in the refection. Peering into the water, bending forward on my knees ever so slightly, I tried to see what the image was through the water's reflective surface.

The surface started to blacken and I leaned so close my face was a mere inch from the water. My breath stirred up ripples that reformed into what looked like long dark corridors and before I knew what was happening, I felt myself tilting forward, as if I were being sucked down into a long dark drain, pitched into the picture in the water.

I hit the floor with a painful thud and shakily got to my feet, I had to squint to see through the murky lighting in the long corridor I found myself in. Looking around wildly, I could find no way to leave the dank, doorless corridor; I wondered if this was an illusion the forest was creating to confuse me until sundown and I found my fingers wringing the end of Hiei's cloak in anticipation. "MOOOOMMMMMMIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!" I nearly had a heart attack and spun around listening fiercely to the shrill voice of a tiny child reverberate down the long corridors. I tried to convince myself not to follow the terrible cries, that it was probably a trick. I heard the pitiful noise of the mournful sobs only a truly terrified young child could make. Casting aside my sanity and care for my own well being, I went sprinting down the corridors, maternal instinct ignited, towards where the sobs seemed to originate. Near the end of the hall, I saw a tiny figure in a fetal position and ran towards it.

"Hey… hey," I said gently, bending in half at the waist to look down at the little form. "Are you alright?"

The only response I got was another terrified cry, the child responsible was bent over herself, face obscured by long blonde locks, tiny frame quivering ever so slightly. I tried to calm her again, but the sound of footsteps halted my words and I whirled around to see if I could find the culprit. Frantic, I turned back and said, "Hey sweetie?" I tried to keep my cool so the kid wouldn't get even more freaked out but I could heard the steps fast approaching. There was no answer, not even a sob and, desperate, I went to grab hold her shoulder and try to rally her. My hand went straight through and it felt like I'd just stuck it into a tub of ice water.

The footsteps were coming closer, faster and the little girl wouldn't even look up. I didn't know what to do, I couldn't touch her but I couldn't leave her either. As I tried to think of something to do, her crying only intensified.

"Naiara?!?" A flustered voice recaptured my attention and I spun around to come face to face with a woman and blinked in pain. It was like peering through dirty water, or staring at someone cross-eyed; I couldn't make out a single detail of the woman, it looked like someone had smudged her until she was only a blot of color. She seemed like she was merely part of the scenery, which, as I looked more carefully at the walls, found were also smeared. The only thing in true focus was the sobbing child and, as I watched her bend down to hug her, the woman magically started to come into focus. She had long red hair and her skin was nearly white, no. Not nearly. It was. White as the snow. The child had shrieked when the woman hugged her and looked up, startled. "Mommy?!!?" The little girl stared for a moment, before forcing herself deeper into her mother's embrace to resume sobbing. I felt awkward, like I was witnessing a private moment between two people.

"I'll just go then…" I said, feeling foolish. But neither of them took any notice of me and an invisible barrier kept me rooted to my place. It was like I was _supposed_ to see this.

"Shh…" The woman crooned, patting the child's head. "It's all right, I'm here…"

"B-but what if you're weren't?" The girl sobbed, "I thought you weren't coming!"

The woman chuckled and said softly, "I was only in the Circle for a moment, sweetie. I was coming right back."

I couldn't help but wonder what the Circle was and voiced my question before I realized that they weren't answering because they probably couldn't hear or see me. Was this a dream?

"But what if you didn't?!!" The girl persisted, sobbing harder. The woman pulled back and looked the girl square in her eyes. I flinched. The little girl's eyes were a strange, vivid blue. Unnaturally blue. Horribly, knowledgeable, blue eyes…

Suddenly it felt like someone else's thoughts were flitting through my head, like a little inkling of the Voice I'd heard earlier. _So _this_ is what the Circle had dubbed as evil; wrong._ _This child was the child who would destroy the village_, the voice scoffed and there seemed to be a fondness in the thoughts that followed, I thought I saw the woman's face soften as she gazed at her daughter, maybe they were _her_ thoughts? _I've heard those stupid legends but I never imagined _I'd _be the 'She-devil' who produced this child and I'd never believed that I could love her so much…_I felt an ache in my heart as the words range through my head as if I were overflowing with the woman's love for her daughter, so much so it was physically painful. What did she mean, being a she-devil?_ The prophecy is _wrong. I was shocked by the sudden fierceness of these words. _That legends are dead to me and every other villager. Naiara is our sun and would not harm our kind. She is helpless, pure, _good_. How could I ever think to leave this child? How could she think I wouldn't come for her?_

The woman stared long and hard into those beautiful, terrifying blue eyes and I tried to make sense of the final ringing notes her thoughts left bouncing in my head. "Now you listen to me missy." The woman's voice was suddenly very strict. "I will never, never leave you. Do you hear me?"

"Promise?" The little girl asked. "You sure?"

"I promise." The woman rubbed her nose against the little girl's, I felt my insides warm at the affectionate sight. "And I'm as sure as the Elders are batty!"

What the hell kind of saying was that? Apparently, the little girl knew what she meant and giggled. "Batty as the Light of Narda, Mommy?"

"Even battier!" The woman laughed, and squeezed her child in a huge hug before letting her go. "Now come on, Yugta Be Damned if you dare make us miss lunch!" And the woman took the little girl by the hand and lead her off, leaving me staring after them and more confused than I'd even been in my whole life. A rushing, sucking noise reached my ears and I watched the hallway stretch unnaturally thin and being to shrink as if I'd been grabbed by the scruff of the neck and pulled out of the scene in front of me. It felt like my limbs were going to be sucked right off but before the pain could intensify any more, it vanished.

I found myself staring at my own wide-eyed, open-mouthed reflection and instantly reared back onto my ass and scuttled away from the water. I did _not_ want to see any more memory/ dream things from some creepy ass forest. I wiped my brow hastily and found a thin layer of swear covering it.

"What happened?" Hiei's voice rang in my ear, so close I could feel his breath. I shot back and stared at his livid eyes, looking like I would be the only person he wouldn't be surprised to find being bitten by a lake.

"Oh… uh…" I bit my lip and looked away, not sure if Hiei would be the best confidant. Now that I thought about it, 'Naiara' rang a distinct bell somewhere. I knew I'd heard it once before. With chilled blood, I remembered hearing the name right before I woke up in this place. Maybe it was just an illusion of the forest but; I thought back to the voice and gave Hiei a weak smile. He wouldn't believe me anyway, and I was smart enough to know hearing voices and seeing things no one else could was a very _bad_ sign. "Nothing, I… uh… thought I saw a bug." I lied, feeling weird and knowing I'd sooner befriend a tarantula than actually fear a tiny little insect. They were cute, not scary, but I couldn't think of any other fear that might account for my behavior.

"You're lying." Hiei growled, his breath tickling my neck and senses. I didn't look at him and got up.

"I really don't care if you believe me or not." I said in clipped tones, hoping he'd just drop it, I yelped and found myself on my ass again, Hiei's long fingers wrapped securely around my wrist.

"Whatever you know woman," Hiei said in a hard voice, "You'd better tell me now."

"That could take hours," I said evasively, looking down at my captured hand rather than Hiei's forceful eyes. "I know a lot."

"Woman…" Hiei ground out slowly; I could feel pin-pricks of his unwavering gaze.

"Well, then! We're wasting daylight, right?" I made a move to pick him up so we could go and be done with the subject but Hiei had other plans. He put so much pressure on my wrist it nearly snapped.

"Tell me _now_. You have no secrets to hold in these woods."

"Hiei, if you break my wrist we're both dead. And how do you know if what I'm thinking has anything to do with the woods anyway?"

Hiei glared at me with scathing, murderous eyes. "_Because…_" He snarled, pronouncing every syllable like he was talking to someone mentally handicapped. "You weren't responding. The second you looked into those waters you froze. _What did you see?_"

"Perceptive but," I looked up at Hiei through my lashes in a sultry manner, "Remember when I told you things would get awkward for you if you didn't let go of me?"

"Nose kisses don't scare me woman." Hiei growled, his body stiffening.

I watched his reaction with amusement. "Really then, how do you feel about a proper CPR seminar?"

And Hiei dropped it.

Of course, he was still pretty mad at me for not telling him what I saw (like I needed him to think I was delusional along with insane) and we spent the next few hours in silence. We decided it would be safest to follow the stream in case it led to any rock formations we could spend the night in, so I spent most of the day ignoring my hunger and Hiei by watching the clear liquid float lazily by. I watched in awe as the stream widened until it was nearly thirty feet across and the dirt shores turned to a steep drop down into the water, whose floor was now smooth stones. We rested again along the river but were unable to find any fish (which I wouldn't have eaten anyway) and neither of us dared try any of the fruited tree's assets so, after gorging ourselves with water and resting for a bit, we continued on.

The sun was starting to lower in the sky, hinting at evening, when we found another cave (thank god). The cave was located at the very back of this large rock formation roughly the height of a small building. Cascading down the front of the rock was a large waterfall that, along with the formation itself, seemed to be the center of the forest. Unfortunately, this meant the area was positively teaming with lush vegetation that would get a little more than just peckish when the sun was completely set. Before this happened, I took as many dead branches and leaves that I could into the cave to burn as firewood and to make bandages with. I didn't dare take anything for bedding, in case it might decided to strangle us while we slept.

The cave was fairly roomy, the size of a small apartment's living room and the fire made a handsome centerpiece. I was awed to see that, by the time I'd come back with the wood, Hiei (who I would have thought was immobile) had already excavated a large circle in the soft dirt with a four foot diameter and a foot depth.

"Impressive." I whistled, setting the branches and such in the center along with a couple leaves, the rest I went to work with, making as many bandages as possible to keep me busy while we waited for sundown. Don't worry though, Hiei and I weren't waiting for the trees to wake up in an _open_ cave- that'd be suicide. I spent a good hour hauling another boulder to the entrance of the cave before I went off foraging- which, like I said, only provided firewood and bandages. The rock wasn't too heavy once I was properly motivated in the form of death prophesies if I didn't manage to block the cave, courtesy of Hiei. Anyway, I had just finished the bandages and set them on the would-be pitch black cave floor had we not made a fire (really it was more like Hiei threw a fireball at the wood and nearly caught my hair on fire) when bored, I decided to end my cold shoulder to Hiei.

"How long do you think we have until… well, _you _know…" I shifted uncomfortably and watched the flames cast flickering shadows onto the cave walls. They looked eerily… I twined my thumbs together absently and made a butterfly with my hands; it's shadow fluttered happily across the cave walls.

"I'm not sure…" Hiei was watching my every movement carefully, like my shadowfly could spring off the walls and come to life. I chuckled and made a spider, pretending to attack Hiei's shadow through it, he frowned. "Stop that."

"What? This?" I made a dog and moved my pinky finger - which was its mouth- for every word I spoke. "Don't be afraid Hiei-chan, I'm just a little puppy dog!"

Hiei's hand shot out like lightning, griping my wrist tightly; I watched sadly as my puppy vanished into the flames. "I said stop."

"Jeez, Hiei, I was just-" My words halted in my mouth, eyes widening in horror. Hiei's face had contorted with pain and his leg seemed to be… glowing? "A-are you- what's _happening_?" I gasped, getting onto my knees to find some way to help him but… they didn't teach you how to stop internal lighting at camp.

Hiei grabbed his leg and yanked it up against his body so he could press into the corner behind him and wait for the spasm to stop. It was horrible, like watching a wounded animal, he seemed so small. I shudder at the thought of what kind of pain could bring _Hiei_ gasping for breath in a cold sweat. I knew in an instant I would've fainted but maybe that would be better- he wouldn't be able to feel it then right? I wanted to help so badly; I was thinking about just knocking him out so he wouldn't hurt himself- Hiei had started to claw at his leg, blood budding from the scratches, eyes closed- when I heard a sound that chilled me to the core. So thoroughly the very marrow of my bones turned to ice. _Moaning_… The sound you'd imagine to extract by burning a thousand humans alive. Hiei's leg glowed brighter until nearly every inch of the cave was covered in light. And then, _scratching_. I turned around and saw, through the holes of the cave, vines and branches clawing at the stone.

My body went into unconscious, uncontrolled spasms with fear and suddenly I understood. Hiei's wound- it wasn't an average wound. It must have been a hunting specialty of the trees so, even if their prey escaped, they could follow it and it would be unable to escape when paralyzed by whatever the hell they did. The glowing seemed to motivate the trees, I could hear rumbling outside, things were beginning to shift, they were trying to dig their way in.

"Hiei?!" I spun around to face him but he was too preoccupied to pay me any heed. Desperate to make him listen, I grabbed his face and forced it up so our eyes met. A shudder ran through me when I saw his normally brilliant orbs had turned a dull maroon, glazed with pain. Thankfully, that strengthened my resolve, "HIEI!!" I bellowed and shook him, he seemed to be struggling to understand my words, so I rushed through my explanation as quickly as possible, "Look, I've never done this to a demon but, I'm going to cut off the blood circulation to your leg. You'll lose your nerve circulation and I can't tell when or if you'll get if back _but-_" I yanked his head towards me, the pain was making him lose focus, "If I don't try that, the poison or whatever will probably_ kill_ you and those trees _will_ get into here. You understand that?!" I cast a nervous look at the cave entrance- the boulder was starting to move- "I want to hear you say it's _ok_ for me to use the pressure points ok? Hiei?! _Hiei!_ Do you understand that _we will die_ if I don't try this?!_Now tell me it's ok to do it_!!"

Hiei gasped, and in a shuddering breath, his head bobbing up and down in an endless nod, said, "I un-understand… just… D-do it."

That was all I needed. I yanked Hiei out of his little corner by the torso, pinned him onto the cave floor and, with some extra bandages, tied his hands behind his back knowing full well that if I didn't, his instinct would drive him into another tight ball making it impossible for me to tell which pressure points were which. If that happened- I really didn't want to think about that possibility though- I might end up killing him by mistake. I murmured nervous phrases made for reassurance for the both of us; I was scared witless. I didn't know if demon bodies were built the same as humans- whether they looked like them or not- and wasn't sure that even if, somehow, the pressure points worked if it would really stop the trees. Every second the scratching and moaning rang louder and louder in my ear and I had to force myself, more than once, not to let myself paralyze with fear.

Hiei let out a sharp cry and I nearly swallowed my tongue; he'd jolted sharply to the left, unconsciously trying to get me away from his leg. I was positive I'd made the right choice by binding his hands as I gasped for breath; he had accidentally hit me it the side and, I was sure that, had I not taken the preventative measure, I'd probably be unconscious on the other side of the cave with more than just a broken rib. I shuddered and hurried to finish my task.

"There…" I drew out the word uncertainly; had I just paralyzed Hiei? I watched nervously, breath held, as he gasped in pain. Finally, after what seemed like eons, his leg seemed to dull, the glow fading, "YES~! I-" But the words never left my mouth. Terrible, inhuman shrieks rattled the cave and a branch exploded forth out of the dirt, scattering it everywhere.

A scream tore itself from my mouth as I whipped around to catch a glimpse of the offender, several large roots the width of my torso had sprung out of the ground, grinning savagely. _Shit! The ground!!_ How could I have overlooked the fact that the cave's floor was made of _dirt_?! As in what trees _grew_ out of?! One of the branches slapped the ground so loud that I, screaming in pain, desperately clawing at my ears, fell to the ground. The seismic wave was so powerful that it stirred up another dust cloud. I watched in horror as the dirt chocked the life from the fire and with it's last few moments of life, before the cave grew black as the night outside, a single thought flitted through my mind. _What's going to happen to us?_

**Oh. My. Godz. Not another cliffie?! XP And now- onwards to mah loyal fans!!**

**Kyrie Twilight****: Er… am I going crazy or are you a fan of my Sonic fic too? Your names really familiar! And yes, rape threats are fun. XD Midori would've carried Hiei- but her arm did die- you were right!! Gasp! Are you psychic?! **

**kusowatashiainingen****: Wait, first off, does your name mean 'Damn my love of humans'? Second, I ttly understand- I got enthusiastic in this chappie when Midori tied his hands together after Hiei was all 'Do it'. Think about it… those phrases out of context… XD Hiei's freakishly adorable!!! And yes!! More love for my oc!! XD I wanna make a cd full of 'Hiei sounds' that would be awesome…**

**I am a kitty. MEOW: Well then, I am a dragon- RAWRZ!!! Lolz, jk. XD Anywhozitz, thanks!! I thought it might be fun to mix it up! On the negative side… it doesn't look like Midori handles combat as well as Hiei does… DX Positive side- yes- Hiei's adorable!!!! XD**

**Doctor Pepper Girl: I take it you'd also like a 'Hiei sounds' CD if I ever made one? XD The trees are SCARY!!! I have a very vivid imagination so when I was conjuring up this chappie I could see the trees and- brrr!! I don't like it!! (Cries) Speaking of his leg, I'm pretty sure I'd have vomited from the pain. Hiei's a badass!!! XD And well… they **_**tried**_** to barricade themselves in a cave too, except their try didn't work… Oh and sorry, didn't mean to force you into 'incognito mode'. Lolz, but I still wuvs your reviews!! XD (whistles happily and iz probably making things worse)Anywhozits, thanks!!! **


	20. Of Course This Happens

**Of course, by Murphy's Law, the second I tell you guys my internet died my dad fixes it... not that i'm complaining. Youtube, my goddess is back!!! XD Now i can waste more of my life with anime!! XD I need a life.... Anyway, thatnks for putting up with this little annoyance, I hate moving.... Anyway, enjoy the read and review if you liked!!! **

I didn't know what to do. It was too dark; I couldn't see anything and a deadly silence filled the cave. Or was the cave really silent? _No… I couldn't have…_My hands fumbled over my ears clumsily in my haste, I rubbed my earlobe and felt a sticky substance dripping down it. It tasted like salt… and rust. Was I deaf? Horrified and unable to tell what the trees were up to; I was easily smashed into the back of the cave and crumpled to the floor gasping for breath. It was like a wave crashed down upon me and sound suddenly sprang from every corner of the room. It _hurt_ to say the very least.

"Get _up_ woman!" Hiei's voice reached my heavily damaged ears at what sounded like a whisper. Dammit my hearing really _had_ been affected. I was in trouble then; I wouldn't be able to hear the trees unless they started crashing about- just like what they must've done to send me flying.

Luckily, the blow wasn't serious and I was on my feet with a 'Fuck you Hiei, that _hurt_!' in a matter of seconds. I wondered how the hell he was even still conscious- or was able to see what happened for that matter- but that wasn't important. He was a demon anyway- maybe he was just naturally awesome. Hiei's awesomeness scale wasn't on my mind at the moment however because I was too concerned with the fact that I couldn't see. If I couldn't see, I couldn't attack. And if I couldn't attack we were fertilizer. Something dense and heavy hit my thigh and I fell to the ground. Swearing, I stupidly groped around for the offender. What was that thing anyway? Did I actually think I could… Wait. I could. I could grab onto on of the branches when they attacked and maybe counter for it! It was worth a shot- that or go back to being one with the land. I found the stupid ass thing that had seriously fucked up my left shin (you can count on a bruise) and felt something thin, heavy and smooth. Like leather? I fumbled with the object and somehow tore it open, which resulting in it doing the same to me.

"Dammit!" I swore and stuck my finger into my mouth to lap off the blood of a fresh cut. Sword. It was a sword. Hiei's sword. I glared in the general direction I heard his whisper-yell and snarled, "Are you trying to fucking kill us _both _you ass-" The words didn't leave my mouth. Just then, a hard, thin object wrapped itself around my ankle and yanked me forward with a vengeance. I screamed and hit my chin hard. Something was dragging me towards the center of the room with a vice-like grip. Without even thinking about it, I grabbed the hilt of the blade, unsheathed it yet again, and plunged the shiny metal into the offender before scuttling back against the wall, my heart beating louder than an all brass orchestra. I cleared my throat, staring wildly at the space in front of me and said diplomatically to Hiei, "Never mind, thank you."

"Get down." The growl was supposed to be fierce, urgent; but with my hearing Mickey mouse might as well have been dancing the Can-Can saying to 'please keep my hands and feet inside the ride'. _That's_ how _urgent_ he sounded to me. Thankfully, I have some amount of common sense and enough 'instinct' or whatever the hell adrenaline juice gives you; so when I felt an abnormal amount of heat building from Hiei's little squirrel hole- you better believe I ducked. I covered my head and cowered like the liver-lillied baby I am and peeked up just in time to see a fireball whiz over my head and go _kaboom_ all over the place. It was like someone had lit a Mexican piñata on fire and chucked it into a mosh pit. There was a horrendous amount of noise and inhuman shrieks loud enough to rattle my deaf skull. I couldn't help but feeling bad for Hiei but that was gone the second I remembered it was kinda his fault. Luckily- his crazy had one positive effect, I could see now- not well, mind you- but well enough not to run into walls and shit. I quickly tried to come up with a strategy but –nope- I had none. Regardless, I got to my feet, licked my lips (I could taste blood, did I split them?) and dashed forward, my grip on Hiei's blade tightening, screaming a fierce cry as loud as my lungs could produce and plunging the cold steel into the first tree I came across. Close up, I could see the gnarled roots grin savagely, displaying what appeared to be sharp teeth. It was those teeth that caught the blade, preventing me from ripping off it's stupid head. I twisted around it and struck it on the back, this time the sword went in deep, like a knife cutting though butter, and a hot sticky liquid burst forth. But I didn't have time for this, I was already moving towards the next tree; it's cold stare bore into me and it flung its whole body on the ground in an attempt to squish me. I just barely dodged it, it's wake creating enough current to ruffle my hair, when a familiar voice reverberated through my head. It was The Voice that led me here in the first place but my observation was right, it was also the exact same voice as the woman in the corridor.

'_Plunge the blade into the center tree… Think about only of how time will forever stop for that creature…'_ I didn't question the voice, my body instantly reacting. I nearly took off my arm with a barrel roll, trying to avoid the mighty blow of another of the wooded monsters and instead almost hacked my arm off (don't ask me how I forgot I was holding a dangerous weapon). I tried to remember just how to wield the blade properly; my target was fast approaching and judging by the voice's urgentness, it wouldn't be a piece of cake. I was nearly at the center (which, thank god, was only like 10 feet away from me) when one of the branches caught me on the shoulder; the sword flew from my hand and skidded to a halt at the very er… 'foot' of my target. _Fuck my life… _This meant that all my progress had been reset to zero. To make matters worse, the branch didn't just catch my shoulder- it sent me straight into another wall. But it didn't stop there, oh no. The wall (which, again fuck my life, was next to the cave's mouth) was crawling with slimy, menacing tree people. My vision flickered and blackened, like trying to peer through the key hole of a very dusty door but what I did see on those faces seemed to be ravenous hunger. Sap dripped from their mouths like saliva. One grabbed my arm and yanked me forward; _hard._ The taste of salt and copper filled my mouth again and I coughed up a big gob of blood. Lucky for me this seemed to excite the damn things. The tree that hand my arm, eager for more blood, yanked harder. So hard, I was lifted off the floor and swung in endless circles in the air. A scream tore from my mouth and with a sickening crunch my shoulder disconnected from the socket. I don't know if I should count this as good or bad luck, but my wrist slipped out of the tree's grip and I went plummeting into yet another wall with enough force to knock the wind out of me. Oh and that overly dramatic, slow sliding down the walls thing that's done in cartoons? Yeah. That applies in real life and feels like someone decided to rub a cheese grater all over your damn back.

"_Midori!!!_" Hiei's urgent, almost panicked voice echoed loudly next to me. This meant I was near him again. To confirm this, I cracked my eyes opened to see several blurry red orbs set in a pale backdrop swim across my vision. I shook my head and managed to stand on wobbly legs, my hand on the wall steadying me as I tried not to puke. _Remind me to never, ever go on any spinning rides again after this…_

Suddenly I remembered that not only Hiei was yelling his head off in my general direction that it was also the first time he'd used my name. I almost laughed I was so happy but I knew this was no time for it. Then again, that could just be hysteria and pain. Not a moment after this flicked through my head did another fireball go into the fray but it wasn't nearly as impressive as the first. In fact, I couldn't feel Hiei's energy anymore. With a sickening lurch I realized that Hiei probably wouldn't be able to help me much more and after my ride on the tilt-a-whirl, I wasn't sure I could handle being on my own.

I tried to stand without the wall's help, stumbling in the attempt and cursing when I fell back down onto my left side. For those of you who lost count that's where I was fucking _missing a limb!!_ Ok, not really, but for all the pain that came with this lovely gift it might as well have been torn right off at the socket rather than just dislocated. Somehow, I managed to get back up (without the wall's help- yay me!), glared in the direction of the trees, and bellowed, "That does it!! I can't believe I tried to go green for you guys! You can be paper for all I care!!! And I'm gunna make sure you get that chance!"

"Do you really believe you have a chance in hell?!" I heard Hiei's voice flit back from somewhere behind me. He sounded distinctly less energetic than he had before the second fireball. He had a point though. We were both pretty much fucked. My vision was starting to blur (that was probably my own fault though, rather than the trees… I really should've been more careful with the sword) and I could feel the adrenaline slowly ebbing away into a panic. Thankfully, The Voice seemed pretty damn calm about the situation. '_Think only of ending the flow of time for the center branch. End him.' _It was all I had left, so I might as well give the damned voice some credit since it was the thing that, by my reckoning, got me into this situation in the first place.

_Okay, breathe Midori._ I closed my eyes and took a deep, yoga breath. I could hear the embers popping off the trees and a low, sizzling, hissing sound underlying all other noises. It smelled like charcoal. My eyes snapped open and I leap to the side just as a rock came crashing down in the exact spot I had been in. Either they found some rocks to bring with them, or that was the door. _Shit._ If I had had trouble with the trees near the entrance, it would be nothing now that they had a right to reinforcements.

'_**Do it now!!!'**_ Fuck fiddles, did the voice have to yell that loud? I was going as fast as I could. I'd already taken off running when The Voice rattled me so hard that I dodged right into a tree, which promptly grabbed my left (fucked up) arm and proceeded to twist. This is where the screaming comes in but no, uh uh, that wasn't good enough for the fucked up thing. No. It fucking thumped me on the chest so hard that blood came up in gobs every time I opened my mouth to scream. I couldn't help but wonder if I was going to collapse at a random interval. Losing this much blood could not be good for me. I could feel my arm turning in my socket, wait, did I say _in_ my socket? Because it wasn't there any more. I was fairly certain that, had skin not been there to prevent it, the tree would have proceeded to twist until it went a full three hundred and sixty degrees. It felt like a twisted surgeon had imbedded fleets of glass underneath my skin. I was dimly aware of Hiei screaming something and my world just closed off. Every little detail froze and sucked itself straight into my body. My muscles relaxed, and I went limp, the world going dark…

"_Brethren I need your help. Call upon the Circle, the final member has fallen. Do not let the blow taint the blood…" _

I did not care what the fuck the voice was talking about, this was it the end. No Slap Angel was gunna save me- dammit, if I wasted the second chance I was given did I lose a merit or something with the upworldians? And gods what was that noise? It sounded like a fricking cult had me surrounded. Chanting started streaming forth from all directions. My fingers twitched and I could _feel_ my fingernails grow. How freaky is that? But that wasn't all, I felt like I was floating on a tilting platform. My body bounced back wildly through twisted, confusing space. The chanting grew louder and louder. My skin crawled. And then, I saw them. From every corner, white flowing, translucent and beautiful. Shapeless creatures floated next to me, there bodies rippling like silk scarves in the wind. I could feel breath in my ear and my heart leapt into my throat. Two of the formless creatures drifted past me. Once all the rippling, blobs were in place, I realized they'd made a circle. A hum came from the creature on my right and I basically swam a little way away from it, I couldn't exactly control my hovering. The hum seemed to wrap around the circle from both ends until a weird, beautiful harmony filled my ears. Suddenly I felt like crying, smiling, and just plain humming along with them all at the same time.

Their graceful arms lifted in front of them, the humming grew louder and the chanting sounded stronger, more powerful. I wondered if they could hum and chant at the same time; did they have two mouths? As I watched I couldn't help but melt a little, the creatures seemed so beautiful to me. A blinding light shot forth from the same one that started the humming, a little orb of crystal like quality appeared in the center of the group. Just like the hum, each one of the beings followed the first's action and the crystal greedily absorbed the lights until it was as big as at least two full grown humans, floating several feet above all their heads. The humming intensified and the chant whispered furiously, I dimly realized that I had no idea what language it was. Curious, I found myself floating closer. The humming suddenly stopped, as did the chants and I froze in place.

All the creatures paused, orb quivering slighty, and seemed to gaze in my direction. "_Join us sister…_" I jumped, it seemed like they were all talking at once as one; the voice was full of wisdom, sagely and sounded like its own choir. I glanced behind me for another of the blobs and saw none. They waited expectantly.

"Oh… uh… Are you talking to me?" My voice sounded odd to me, garbled, like I was speaking in water.

"_What other being is there to converse with_?" The mass thrummed in agreement to the words it spoke. It was weird, like someone laughed at their own joke. I stared at them in disbelief and wondered if these were the angels of whatever place Hiei and I had been in. Did they change with location? I wondered if it would be appropriate to ask what they were on and if they were a cult- but it didn't seem like it would be.

"_We are 'on' nothing_." Another thrumming noise, _was_ that laughter? I suddenly felt stupid. Not even bothering to wonder how they knew what I was thinking and looked away in embarrassment.

"Well… as long as that's clear…" I muttered then looked up, eying them suspiciously and said, "I don't think I ever had this many siblings."

A chant echoed around the chamber in an excited whisper and what distinctly sounded like leaves shaking upon a tree. This was starting to piss me off, I could hear my thoughts screaming, _Is that laughter_? Another burble of silken dialogue pulled me from these thoughts. "_Child, do not fear. We wish to assist…_" My spine tingled.

"Why?" I asked, not sure which to look at, they all sounded like they were the leader. Was that true equality? If so, count me out, I'd rather not be equal and be myself rather than be like everyone else. I shudder at the thought.

"There isn't time to explain child, if you wish to save your friend." I looked around the circle; the shapeless figures limbs floating aimlessly and the glowing orb emitting a soft blue light.

"Alright." I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. Ew. Even in limbo it felt like straw and grease, how attractive. If I ever got out of this alive I was taking a long bath. "What can I do?"

"Join us." They answered simply and turned their attention back to the crystal thing. I watched it bob for a while wondering what I should do when the figure next to me, the same one who had started the humming and energy, whispered, "Raise your arms, and focus on the power within you."

"Oh… uh, thanks." I looked down, feeling my face flush and edged a little closer to her; at least it sounded female, like a Greek goddess, and carefully rose my arms up. I focused hard on the orb for as long as I could without losing focus, but it was really hard to do. I'm mean come on! I'm just supposed to sit with floaty spiritual blobs while Hiei is alone and fending off hoarders of mutant trees? For the love of god, I'm only human!! Don't ask the damn impossible from me!!

"_You can do it."_ Okay, that was definitely weird. Weird because that wasn't just The Voice I heard echoing off my conscious. It was _all _of them. Those spiritual blobs. An odd warm started to seep through my conscious, enveloping me in hug-like comfort and, suddenly, all negative 'what if' thoughts were pushed out of my brain to be replace with 'I can' and 'I will'. It was invigorating, empowering and impossible to keep to myself. I tried to fight against the urge(obviously because I didn't want to look like a retard) and keep these impossible happy and motivational thought from bursting out of my mouth. But I couldn't. My eyes glazed over and I could only feel, my mouth pouring out the same empowering words over and over again, like my own little chant to add to their own. My ears tingled and the sensation shot straight down my spine and to my toes; it felt like every cell in my body was tingling. My ears heightened to the peak of their senses; I never felt so alive.

Images began to flash across my vision. A beautiful crystal clear lake. The tired and excited feeling from running for hours. Trees, normal happy trees. Snow. People. Faces I thought I knew without knowing and faces I didn't recognize but could fit a name to. The imagines began to flit across my vision at impossible, unrecognizable speeds. It felt like I was directly linked to the main frame of a super computer and it was attempting to imprint the hard drive on my brain. It was dizzying, frightening and I wanted to scream. But my mouth was too busy rapidly churning out an endless stream of every little insignificant thing in life that ever made me happy, even ones I had long forgotten. The chanting seemed to be folding in on me and marched straight through my head, encircled my brain and clouded any chance at a coherent thought and then proceeded back out to fill the room with it's eerie pleasure.

This process happened over and over; images of things I hadn't even experience flowed through me. In one instance I thought I saw the little girl, but it could have simply been a third view of myself. The images sped even faster and words pours from my mouth so rapidly I couldn't breath. My eyes welled with tears and my legs began to tremble. Whispers started to accompany the pictures. It was impossible I'd seen so much in fifteen short years of life, yet somehow, I knew it was all my own experience.

"_Go now sister, you have awakened…_" I was amazed I could even process those words with all this shit blocking my senses. It hurt like hell- like I was one fire- like I was being repeatedly scratched a hundred times over. My knees finally bucked from the strain and the pictures started to slow. "_Good luck…_" I fell forward, motionless on the ground. As the pictures and words died down, my senses started to return to me. My cheek was pressed against the hard, cool ground. My body felt woozy, a rollercoaster ride of feelings burbling in my chest. My body suddenly decided to respond to my will again and I felt my hands twitch. Something wet feel on my cheek and my hand came up to brush it away, eyes opening.

The first thought that came into my head as my vision cleared and I saw that somehow, miraculously, Hiei was crouched right over me and bleeding profusely from the head was 'What the hell happened to him?'. The second thought was, 'Ew, Hiei blood' because I knew that little drip was _not _a tear. And the third was, 'Get up _now_' so I did. Smart move on my part. As I had been lying on my belly (don't ask how that happened, I still want to know where those stupid blobs went) and, as Hiei had been over me, jolting into a push up position resulted in us smacking heads. My bad…

"Jesus!!" I yelped, fell back onto my belly and grabbed my head with both hands in the afflicted area. Meanwhile, Hiei was letting loose a long stream of swears and reasons why he shouldn't have bothered to save my sorry ass. I flipped onto my back and glared at him wanting to know when that happened (let's all remember he was being a sad sack in the corner and, other than nearly kill me with fireballs, really wasn't very helpful) but I didn't have the chance to ask. A tree branch came hurtling straight down towards us. Hiei, who had covered his eye with his hand to stop the bleeding (Again… my bad) and was already facing me, didn't seem to see it.

"Move idiot!!" I yelled and, grabbing the straps of his tank top, flung him over me and rolled after him out of the way of possible decapitation. Thank god the guy was tiny. Not so thankful that, despite him weighing like two feathers and a gumball, the rotation of my shoulder was enough to cripple me with pain and reopen the clotted blood on my arm. (Remember when I avoided that tree and forgot I had Hiei's sword in my hand? Yeah… I kinda sliced open my arm… Fuck my life…) Anyway, the point is, Hiei got to return the favor ten seconds later since I was in too much pain to avoid the second strike of the branch. He yanked my next to him and sliced clean through the branch with, get this, a _plain karate chop_ as it bore down on us yet again.

The severed branch wriggled on the ground and then was motionless. The main branch however, instantly grew back not one, but two more end pieces like a forked vine. This was getting ridiculous. Wait, wasn't I supposed to, I dunno, be able to actually help now. I mean I just saw random blob/saint dudes that said I'm totally ready. For what I don't know, but isn't that supposed to be some kinda point in which the hero gain wisdom/power? That's how the fucking fairy tails work!

Annoyed at the utter uselessness of my supposed revelation, I glanced around the room for the sword. Obviously, I cannot be expected to master Hiei's badassity and chop down trees with my bare hands. I'm just not like that. I noticed something long and thin glinting at the bottom of the center tree and, mentally groaning, remembered I dropped seconds before my shoulder was dislocated. I also remembered The Voice saying some random shit about killing the very center tree anyway and, since I needed a weapon anyway, I decided it was worth a shot.

"Look Hiei." I said slowly, trying to process what I was going to do. "I need to get to the center tree."

"Are you insane?" His eyes never left the trees but I could tell that if he could spare me a glance, it would've been murderous. "The night must be half over if we wait it out, we might just survive. Besides, those things don't seem to attack the rim as harshly as they would if you were stupid enough to face them head on." The credibility of his logic was lost by him adding, "And I have no doubt that you are that stupid."

"Oh _fuck _and _you_ Hiei!" I jumped to my feet and bolted towards the sword. Hiei cursed loudly and, out of my peripheral vision, I saw him attempt to stand (probably to drag me back by the hair), but he collapsed into a crouch in less than a second flat. Ignoring that, I tried to focus on not getting yet _another_ wound from the trees. It felt like I was in fricking ballet class again, with all the side jumping, leaps and bounds (even the cool things like rolls), feeling like no more than a poofy-pink skirted performance. That itself was pretty annoying but what was worse was that the target of my quest seemed to have been drinking his milk in my mental absence. Now I understood why The Voice had been so panicky that I get rid of it. It was big, it was mean, and it looked like corpses were dripping off it instead of leaves. So not attractive.

In what could only be call sheer dumb luck, I managed to stop a vine from taking my head off. Just as it whipped it's deadly sharp body at me I tripped and a blow that would have cut my head clear off only left a shallow (though very bloody) cut from the tip of my neck to my collar bone. A quick glance back at Hiei told me why I hadn't heard even more yells from his direction; reinforcements had indeed come in after the door had been removed and he was busy keeping the from cutting his head off too (not like they could, Hiei's too badass for that). Three more vines took aim and I was forced into a slide to avoid them. I felt the rock bite in to my legs as the momentum dragged them across the ground. I threw out my right leg to stop the slide just as I neared Hiei's katana and snatched it up. Those stupid vine got what was coming and I sliced them up. Stupid move. The each regrew their tips and then some. Cursing, I whirled around to parry a blow from the center tree (who now looked like a zombie tree boss from an RPG game I remembered playing when I was supposed to be righting an English essay). I plunged the sword hilt deep into the surprisingly fleshy surface of the boss tree. Tearing upward, it sliced neatly in two and that was that. I whirled around to yet again chop off the tips of the vines which, go figure, duplicated again and was just beginning to focus on how to get rid of them when hideous gagging noises came from the main tree.

_Of course it's not dead, why would it be easy?_ My instinct was to turn around and go mad-woman on it but before I could do that, something happened that managed to extract the girly-ist shriek of my life out of me.

"_EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW~!!!!!!!_" Hot, sticky warm gobs that smelled like rotten milk exploded from behind me, positively drenching me down to my panties. My mouth hung open in utter disbelief and I tried to breathe through the thick disgusting crap. My freakishly long hair had flown into my face and plastered itself to my face with the gunk. As I tried to part it, gobs fell off and thin membranes connecting the strands were visible. It looked identical to snot and was twice as dense as sap. I gagged and moaned, "What the hell _is _this shit?!"

"FOCUS MORON!!!!" Hiei's yell snapped me out of my moment of girly horror. I spun around to find the tree, just like the vines, beginning to regenerate itself- and already it was almost done. I panicked. How the hell was I supposed to kill something that could instantly heal itself!? Something in the back of my mind suddenly clicked. I closed my eyes and focused as hard as I could on a picture of a giant remote in my mind's eye and pushing the 'pause' button. I held up both my hands, just like the blobs had, and concentrated hard. I blocked out the sound of the snickering and screeching trees and the sharp, whip-like cracks they made. I closed off the human-like cries and screams and even blocked the throaty, horse battle cry of Hiei as he dispatched them. I concentrated harder than anything I ever have in my whole like. And I concentrated on that one picture like my life depended on it- because it did.

The harder I focused on that pause button, the more a weird tingle build up in my gut. I felt like I'd swallowed a tub of warm water, and that warmth began to seep through my limbs. Suddenly, everything felt _right_. It felt natural. So when words that I neither knew nor had hear of came to my lips, it didn't even occur to me to question it. The sensation wasn't like it had been when I was with those spiritual blobs. I wasn't scared or overwhelmed and it didn't feel like a tidal wave was suffocation me. This felt like a blanket enveloped me. I felt warm, secure, powerful. No picture other than the remote entered my mind but, like before, an endless stream of words poured from my mouth. It wasn't meaningless things though; it was a chant, and incantation. I sounded loud to me, yet quiet to my world. It was both peculiar and familiar. It waned and waxed like the moon, growing stronger and weaker in pitch. As the last word left my mouth, I paused. My arms still in the air, eyes closed, and mouth parted as I waited for the final syllable to resonate in the air.

Slowly, I opened my eyes. I didn't bother to wonder at the frozen scenery, not a single on of the trees in motion, or the dead quiet enveloping the room with an eerie calm. I felt calm and collected, almost possessed and I fulfilled my mission by bringing the sword down on the tree. My moves felt robotic and empty, eyes glazed over, as my arms carved thirteen quick, punishing strikes into the tree. I placed a hand over the scar and closed my eyes, focusing hard once more, then I stepped back to examine my work. The scars were in the shape of a pentagram. My eyes widened with horror, a little 'O' parting my mouth as the sword clattered noisily to the ground. Why the hell had I drawn that? I am a _very_ superstitious person and suddenly felt like saving off that part of the fleshy tree to avoid bad karma but before I could do that, the trees all around me started to fade from a dank brown to a sad, ashen gray. The seemingly plump, healthy looking (yet still demonic) trees shriveled up to resemble skeletons. Then, the shriveled, colorless trees crumbled away, a silent wind blowing them out of the cave.

Horrified, I stood there with my mouth open for a long minute not able to process what happened until Hiei demanded, "How the hell did you do that?"

"I-i…" But I couldn't think of anything to say. I felt numb. I looked over to Hiei for support, gesturing vaguely to the vicinity. Oddly enough, Hiei flinched and looked away, possibly bad memories? But wasn't I the one that was covered in tree vomit? I arched my eyebrow at him when he glared at me from underneath his bangs. 　

His eyes were suspicious and wary, like I was a feral animal, but I didn't care. My brain had finally processed that somehow, someway, we won. Relief crashed over me and a huge, idiotic smile made it's was onto my face. I laughed and shook my head, not believing it and, suddenly weary, went over to sit next to Hiei, the grin still big as ever.

"Pretty good for a first time, life-threatening battle huh, Hiei?" I asked gleefully and playfully punched his shoulder with my good arm. I was so utterly relieved we weren't being digested at the moment. Hiei sighed; his shoulders slumped slightly, like he too, was relieved. A small smile was barely on his lips for half a second before, after giving me a quick once over, it vanished.

"Are you kidding me!?" He growled menacingly, staring hard at my shoulder. "Your arm's completely dislocated and that cut's going to turn into a scar bigger than your forearm, you call _that_ 'pretty good'!? You're lucky you're not dead." I glared at him, he could be happy for five minutes.

"Fuck you Hiei, I- ow! God dammit that's tender!!" Hiei, who apparently wanted no excuses, had taken it upon himself to check on my shoulder and grabbed it none too gentle. Naturally, my first instinct was to try and get him off me.

"Stay still." He growled in annoyance but I wasn't having any of that.

"Oh hell no! Leave it alone! It's totally fine as long as you don't touch it!!" I slapped his hand away and stood up, planning on walking to the other side of the cave (now that I could safely do just that without getting eaten) and take refuge there until he decided he didn't care anymore (which probably would have taken no more than two minutes). However, Hiei, the little bastard, grabbed my ankle which, obviously, sent me backwards onto my back with a, "Fuck you, asshole!!" Not even careing to listen to my feeble, annoyed bleating, Hiei had already straddled me and was holding my one good arm down (not that it would make any difference if that arm was free or not since I was completely wiped and there was just no way I could fend him off with one hand).

"It won't be fine- it's _dislocated_ you idiot. You have to put it back in it's damn socket before it'll get better."

"I have an idea," I said sharply, glaring angrily at the man who wouldn't even look at me (way too absorbed in the awesomeness of my battle wounds). "You lick your own wounds and I'll lick mine. Now get off!"

"If you die, then I'm stuck here." He moved my good hand down by my waist and then pinned it with his knee in order to free himself up to grab onto either side of my shoulder. Anger bubbled inside of me; the reason why he'd been so 'un-Hiei-ish' clicking into my mind and offending me deeply. My words were bitter and sarcastic.

"Well, I'm _glad_ to see your so concerned about me-!!" The annoyance behind that lost a bit of its luster as the word 'me' came out just a tad bit shriller than I'd have preferred. Ok, truth be told it came out as a really wimpy shriek. Hiei had chosen at that exact moment to shove both sides of my shoulder together as swiftly (and painfully) as possible. Forget broken glass, now my arm felt like lava and fleas were ravaging the insides. Rather than just pain, now it was throbbing and itching, ew.

"You're such a bastard." I growled, shoving him off me and massaging my shoulder (ok, so he let me up but let me dream and say me, myself and I was the reason the little twerp finally got off).

"Your welcome." Now he was busy looking at the cut on my arm, which, thanks to that funky snot-shit, was not longer bleeding (the _one_ good thing about that stupid tree). Unfortunately, judging by Hiei's leg, the stuff was most likely poisonous and now had direct access to my blood. Concerned, I was about to mention this when Hiei bit my arm. No, I'm dead serious, he fucking _bit_ my arm. It wasn't like it hurt, but it sure as hell creeped me out enough to jump back, whack him a good one and yell bloody murder at the top of my lungs.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOUR _DOING?!?!?!_" I edged away from him holding my arm as close to me and far away from him as possible. A ridiculous fear of him jumping me and sucking me dry like a vampire flitted through my head and I, unable to contain it in my freaked out state added, "Look you! I'm hungry too! I know we haven't eaten all day, but this is no time to go crazy psycho vampire on me! I thought you were a _fire_ demon!!!"

"You fool!" Hiei's tone was so harsh that I flinched. "Do you really think your _worth_ eating? Didn't I just say I need to keep you _alive_? Now get over here before that poison kills you." And then, unbelievably, he just held out his hand like I was gunna hand him a soda or something.

"Why the hell would I even come near you?!?!" I shrieked, "I can lick my own wounds!!"

"If you ingest it, I guarantee you'll die." He was watching me with such unnervingly calm eyes, like we were just chatting about the weather, that I felt like an idiot for reacting the way I was (not like I could help it though!). Hiei waited for a minute, arm still outstretched before he gave an irritable sigh. He muttered something that suspiciously sounded like '_women…_' and then asked, with absolutely no attempt to conceal how pissed off he was, "Why is this such a big deal to you? Didn't you clean my wound out a few hours ago?"

"That's different! You couldn't even reach your wound! Besides, I didn't die then and _you_ were poisoned." I countered.

Hiei heaved in a deep breath and let it out with exaggerated patience. "I wasn't poisoned. It was latent tracking, probably how those pitiful beasts hunt."

"Um…?" I stared blankly at him. I'd heard of latent thing before but somehow my brain wasn't working, Hiei growled.

"It means it doesn't happen until later you moron!!! I knew your educational systems were pitiful- but _this_?!" He scoffed, "I guess that's just typical of a human… and you're a woman too…"

"_SEXIST PIG!!!!_" Subconscious response triggered, I stomped over to the little runt and went to smack him so hard his head would spin. Unfortunately, Hiei caught my arm easily and, in a double fuck-my-life moment, I realized I'd used my injured arm to lash out at him. He smirked, eyes amused. Everything about his expression seemed to read 'Game, set, match'. I was positively seething.

"You're pathetically easy to read." He stated simply.

"RAPE!!! RAAAAAAPE!!!!!" I yelled at him for about a minute, but, knowing that whining would get me nowhere and seeing that he was already busy tending the cut, I gave up, sank to my knees and waited patiently for him to finish. Looking at his face, I could tell he had been bleeding do to a small cut under one of his eyes but the blood had already clotted and it didn't seem as bad as when I'd (accidentally) smashed my head into him. As I continued to watch him, I felt a funny little twang in my heart.

_His tongue is really warm… it feels kinda nice…_Wait… NO, NO AND NO!!! Why the _hell_ did I just think that!! Bad! Very bad, Midori! I wanted to smack myself but, knowing that might raise unwanted questions, I tried to endure and just sit still. This was no easy task as I am a young, high school girl (you know, those awkward years of mind in the gutter, foot in mouth?) But come on!!! Hiei is _HOTT_!!!! Arguably one of the sexiest men in yu yu and you expect me to have no reaction if he _licks_ me?! Ok. So it's just my arm, but COME ON!!! Regardless, I tried to keep my mind clean. Besides, it was really weird thinking of him in that way since I now considered him a friend so half of me was all 'Hey… I kinda like this…' and the other was all 'Ew… dude… that's your _friend_.' The easiest thing to do in this situation is to just go to a corner, curl up and cry. Not that I could, but I managed to get through the ordeal by imagining a) multiple emo suicides in my happy corner, b) pretending Hiei was one of the tree zombies (this successfully grossed me out until Hiei, probably sensing my stare, looked up and ruined the illusion. What tree has such sexy eyes?!?) and c) the natural fangirly response of jumping him and taking him right then and there. The final illusion was by far the shortest (5 second daydream) because I knew if I didn't refrain from that kinda distraction I really _would_ end up fulfilling it which would be _**very **_bad!! You do not rape friends. Anyway, I only had to endure like ten minuets of this brand of mental tourture, so thank god for that.

Hiei pulled away, spitting out the last bite of goo-infested blood and gave my arm a quick once over. "There…" He said it bitterly. Um, I didn't fucking _ask_ you to do that! As soon as he did that little jerk of his head that I knew mean 'Ok' I yanked my arm out of his hands faster than Bullseye (ya know… from toy story?) Hiei raised and eyebrow and gave me a questionable look. This look said, "What the fuck's _your_ problem?" and I wanted to snap and say, "_You_ ya little bastard!!" but since he didn't really _say_ that I simply nodded and said, "Thanks…"

"You should probably take that off too." Hiei muttered, eyes honed in on yet _another_ wound. Why did I have so many anyway? What had I been up to? Oh crap… senior citizen moment…

"Take what off?" I asked.

"Your clothes."

_WA-TWACK!!!!_

"YOU GODDAMN FILTHY PERVERT!!!!" My hand stung slightly, I'd never hit anyone so hard before. I instantly went back to the corner I'd tried to hide in earlier and covered my chest with my arms.

"JESUS, WOMAN!! I'M JUST TRYING TO KEEP YOU _ALIVE!!!!_" Hiei's hand shot up to the afflicted cheek and the shallow little cut under his eye broke open again under the strain and once again started spewing blood. Oops… But I didn't have time for guilt.

"LIKE I'LL BELIEVE THAT, YOU HORNY LITTLE BASTARD!!!!!!"

"OH, DON'T _FLATTER _YOURSELF!!!!"

"WHY THE HELL SHOULD I TAKE OFF MY CLOTHES!?!?!?!"

"HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN WHAT'S ON YOUR _CHEST?_!?!"

Okay. That one got me. I had no idea what he was talking about. Confused, I said, "Um… boobs?"

"DO YOU _TRY _TO BE STUPID?!!?" Hiei bellowed and jabbed furiously at the air surrounding my collarbone. "YOUR _CUT_, YOU NIMROD!!!"

Normally, no one would get away with insulting me like that but, as I was totally confused, I let it slide. "My cut?" I asked, pulling the fabric at my chest forward so I could see what the hell he was babbling about. Dried blood covered every inch of my skin right down to my belly button. The blood drained from my face, I suddenly felt light headed with dread. "HOLLY SHIT!!! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!?!?!" I shrieked, panicking yet again. Did I fucking bust an artery?

Hiei had his head in his hands as if asking the Gods why they must punish him by forcing him to accompany this moron (that would be mwah). He picked up his head briefly, glaring at me through his bangs, and asked, teeth gritted together, "Don't tell me you _forgot_ what happened?!?!"

"Um…?" Yeah I did. But I wasn't gonna tell him that. So I lied, "Nope I _totally _remember!"

"Then what happened?" He challenged.

"Uh…" I quickly looked around the cave for some answer, but I was way too tired to use my brain right now. "I scratched myself?" I felt like an idiot, trying to pull clues out of Hiei. Looking at his face (and knowing that was totally wrong) I tried again, "I tripped…?" Actually, now that I thought about it, I don't remember how I got _any_ of my injuries. The whole tree incident was getting foggier and foggier and I was beginning to convince myself it was all a dream.

Hiei looked absolutely dumbfounded. "Are you actually saying you _forgot_ how you got that?"

No use beating around the bush. "Yup!" I said happily, I mean, what's the big deal? So I forgot. It's not like we were in mortal danger or anything just because of a little scratch, right? I bet it was just me falling of a cliff or something (which, trust me, wouldn't be a new occurrence) and figured he was pissed because he had to save my ass. I looked up to double check how that particular little fire demon was taking it.

Okay. Now Hiei looked mad. And if I'd seen him mad before, that was nothing compared to now. "Of all the times this could've happened…" He muttered something angrily under his breath. Something involving shock?

But I wasn't listening to him. I mean, what the hell were we doing in a cave? Oh man, I'm so tired; am I dreaming?! Whatever little remnant of memory I'd been trying to hang onto now was gone. My head was all foggy and I felt reeeeeeally sleepy. Hiei was starting to get all blurry too and my eyes were super heavy. I couldn't keep them open much more.

"ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO ME!?!!?" Hiei bellowed. My head shot up and I blurted, "TWENTY SIX!!!"

"What is _wrong _with you?!?" He yelled, but I was trying to wipe the sleep from my eyes.

"Sorry… I dunno… but I thought for a second I was falling asleep in math class again…" I yawned. "You 'ay umthin 'iei-chan?"

I don't know why Hiei looked so horrified, I was just tired, it's not a crime. I yawned again, rubbing my eyes. "Let's talk tomorrow, m'kay?" My head felt really heavy too, my body tilting off center. But that didn't really matter because I was dead asleep before my body hit the ground.

**Huh… Midori seems to pass out a lot… I just noticed that… Oh noes! Is she anemic?! She shoud've brough a granola bar with her!!!!! Anyway…Questions? Comments? Stories? You know the drill, if you liked it please review!! I is gunna go eat banana pudding now… XD**

**Bhel-Elryss: Dunno why but I fricking cracked up when I read this. Noooooo… trees don't live in dirt! Pshaw! XD Oh noez!!! Not the cliffiez!!! **

**Kusowatashiainigen: Yes, yes I would. I'd probably be a millionaire. I understand about the flame thing, I had an oc who, before I even made the story, posted a bio on her, and then made the story. I got flames the first few chappies, but as the story progressed they shut the hell up and found they liked the plot even if they didn't like the character. This is pretty damn common for me so I'm enthralled seemingly everyone likes Midori. XD Whoa, your expectations make for great alternative plot twists! Sadly, the trees only secret a venom, not unsimilar to snake venom and they can follow the 'taste' anywhere. The glowing and pain are just added bonuses. XD**

**Hieisdarkdragonchick: There not gunna die… yet…**

**Valinor's Twilight: And what kind of person **_**likes**_** them? Beside the writers of course XP **

**Kyrie Twilight: So I am going crazy?! Cripes… ah well, it was bound to happen eventually… XD If I was Hiei I'd have already fainted or started a panic attack but he goes and fricking **_**attacks**_** the trees? Badass… Then again, we all know that Hiei is a dude who just naturally has his badassity levels flying off the charts. Curse you naturally awesome people!! **


	21. I'll Apologise With Kareoke

"Look. I _said_ I was sorry." I moaned insincerely. It was so damn hot out and we'd been over this so many times I challenge any one of you to try and sound like you actually gave a damn. My head hung with exhaustion, hair plastered to my face with sweat, as I grudgingly followed the swift little yokai leading me. I was tempted to ask how he was unaffected with the heat wave but after he spent two hours trying to convince me that, no, the battle last night was not in fact a dream and then dealing with a violent catty assault on my half I really doubted he was in the mood for pleasantries. I winced as I saw the large red hand print on his face again as he turned to send me a dirty glare at my millionth apology that was just words without feeling. And I doubted I would ever truly feel sorry for smacking him. So I was a little tipsy last night (or so he said) and urgently needed my wounds cleaned (again, that's what he said) but I challenge you to find a woman alive who wouldn't beat the living daylights out of any man standing over her naked body the second she wakes up. He's lucky I didn't go for his balls or jugular, teeth bared. Therefore, in this happy way, we traveled for what seemed like forever. Hiei vehemently ignored me while I sweltered in the sun and ranted to myself. My feet were really starting to hurt and I was just about to complain again, when Hiei's stomach growled rather noticeably. I burst into laughter.

"What the hell was that? Did you swallow a cat or something?" I didn't waste my time trying to cover up my guffaws in a ladylike fashion.

Hiei bristled and responded curtly, "We haven't exactly had any sustenance lately, or do I need to remind you?"

Hell no he didn't. I was starving. But I couldn't help tearing Hiei off his high horse. "Yeah but I thought demons were oh so much better than us lowly mortals. However, _my_ stomach isn't the one that's growling, now is it?" I smirked.

Hiei whirled around, eyes glinting dangerously and spat, finger pointed accusingly, "If I hadn't wasted so much energy saving your ass I could have easily gone weeks without any food!"

"As I seem to remember how _you _told it, wasn't it I who saved your ass?" I asked innocently.

A vein throbbed on his temple slightly and he stomped off but not before he added his own muttered comeback. "Maybe from the trees, but I don't exactly relish in scrubbing a pre-pubescent child free of poison."

Okay that pissed me off. I easily matched his pace, (not that he'd admit it, but his ankle was still totally dead) and retorted hotly, "_Excuse me_?" He looked away, quickening his pace. I stomped after him and continued, beyond irritated. "You see these?" I asked cupping my hands under my well-shaped breasts, "I think a B cup is a little more than just pre-pubescent, heck, it's a damn good size. Unlike you ya little prat! So you've got muscles, big deal, meat head. I still have, like, six inches on you! And you wanna judge how scrawny _I_ am? Me? Please, back home, I'm a heartbreaker." I ran my hands along my supple hips and bust line. Figure '8'. Not pear shaped, but a classic hour glass. I may not be the prettiest girl in the world but I _knew_ I was better looking than Hiei gave credit for and being a young girl, that stung.

Hiei stopped walking to give me a glare which, under normal circumstances would have silenced me and would've too, if not for his stupid comment. "Maybe I'm not interested in scrawny human females that cause more trouble than their worth. Why should I take a mate whose dumber than a horse whose only use is for prancing around in scanty uniforms? I'm not like your lecherous kin and I don't base on look, you're just too weak for me to give a damn about."

"A-are you actually fucking calling me a _slut_?!!?" When had I ever done anything slutty in his presence!?! Was a kiss on the nose like giving yourself away in demon lingo, cause if that was true I woulda _never_ done it.

"Calling you one? No. Implying…? Perhaps." Hiei shrugged.

I bristled. I bet I could've come up with some argument in my defense if I actually remembered what happened last night but I couldn't. So, naturally, the only thing I could do was prove him wrong and throw it in his face. He already fricking called me a slut and that was just way over the line, so excuse me for wanting to fuck with him. No pun implied.

"So your not like my kin, huh?" I muttered, a malicious little idea popping into my head, "I bet I could prove otherwise…" He was a fucking guy, wasn't he? And I was a girl. If he had I dick, I was sure as hell I could make him think with it.

Before Hiei could say or do anything else, I slipped my arms around his waist, yanking him securely up against me and once again took advantage of my height by making sure he was on the tips of his toes.

"What do you think you're doing?" His voice was so cold and emotionless that if it weren't for the fact all Japanese questions end with 'ka', I would've thought Hiei was talking to himself. This pissed me off. I expected at least some kind of reaction from him, an emotional one. It was no fun if he just shut down or was his normal asshole self. Annoyed, I mentally skimmed through other ways to provoke him; unfortunately, it looked like he'd already gotten used to hugs. But I had another idea, since it would be rude to ignore his question.

"What would you _like_ me to do?" I responded huskily in his ear and nudged his chin with my nose, forcing it up and letting my breath tickle his throat. Hiei froze, going stiffer than a board, barely even breathing. Right then, I knew I totally got him. Not wanting to miss the moment, I let him go and started walking. A quick glance back showed my work as fruitful. "By the way," I thrilled, just to be a bitch, "You're face is bright red. Just like _any_ boy would be."

I heard Hiei mutter some dark response and I mentally laughed to myself; relishing in my little victory. With that little note, I felt much better. So much better, in fact, that I started humming a bit. The humming, obviously, since it was me, elapsed into song. Hiei didn't seem to give a damn about it, but after an hour or so he finally voiced annoyance. By this time, after matching my pace to several slow songs, Hiei was currently leading the way. But that changed as soon as he chose to comment.

"Stop that." Hiei stopped so suddenly that I smashed into him, thus destroying the illusion of an air guitar I currently had going. I was too absorbed to really get what he meant by that and continued to strum, stepping around him to now take the front of our two man parade.

"Bum bum bum…~" Each time the musical interval hit I mixed a singing hum to my tone to fill the word gap, quickening my fingers to match each bass noise I mimicked. Noticing Hiei had stopped I played the interval right up to a gap and shouted with the music in my head, "GO~!!!" Pointing onward, dancing ahead. Then, to add to the instrument, added vocals like the song, "Well, it's a one, two. three, take my hand and come with me because you look so fine that I really wanna make you mine~!!" I mimicked a 'come on' signal to Hiei as I said that and repeated, "I said, you look so fine that I really wanna make you mine~!!!"

It wasn't a surprise that Hiei didn't respond, seeing as I was singing an English song. I wasn't sure why, but I'd suddenly struck the urge for singing, the song 'Are you gonna be my girl' by Jet popping up into my head and I simply went with it. Hiei, however, didn't follow until I was thirty or so feet ahead of him before he begrudgingly started following me just as I lapsed into a different song. "Yooooooooooooooou~!!!" Point at random tree, "I wanna take you to a gay bar~!!!!!!! I wanna take you to a gay bar~!!!!! I wanna take you to a gay bar, gay bar, _gay bar~!!!!!!_" I really didn't care how obnoxious this song was due to its awesome guitar and fun lyrics, thus I continued loudly.

"Let's start a war, start a nuclear war~!!! At the gay bar~!!!" Repeat 'gay bar' three times followed by musical instrumental, guitar style. I went skipping ahead, giddy with enthusiasm, strumming out more and more false keys that, had I had an actual guitar and knew more than just guitar hero, would have filled the clearing with music.

"_OI!!_" Hiei all but screamed, not amused by my dancing. Someone apparently was not a happy camped _but_, I decided I really didn't _care_ and refused to ask him 'what up?' until I had completed the _whole_ song I was singing. By the time I slung my air guitar on my back he was thoroughly annoyed and I suppose my response didn't help.

"What other songs do you know?" I asked, humming a few melodies but not really feeling like singing any of the one in particular. I spun around to face him, finding he wasn't very far behind me anymore.

"None. And I'd like it to stay that way." Hiei didn't even look at me and continued walking as he answered this. I watched him pass me and put a finger to my lip, thinking. I could sing pokemon songs, and since Hiei didn't know what they were I wouldn't feel too dweeby. Then again, I didn't _feel_ like that either. _Let's see, we're stuck, alone, out in the woods, and a good traveling song for that issssssss? Oh!!_

"Don't even think about it." Hiei turned to glare at me, arms crossed over his chest, perfectly sculpted eyebrow raised. I was annoyed that he knew I was about to lapse into another song and suspected mental foul play but chose to overlook it.

"Well you don't talk to me and I'm feeling exceptionally happy so why not just roll with it Negative Nancy?" I crossed my arms too. Whether he wanted me to or not, when I felt like singing, I sang.

Hiei pinched the bridge of his nose, "_Please. _Can you managed to keep that big mouth of yours shut for a little while?"

"Um… no." I beamed. He scowled, eye twitching slightly. "Nice use of 'please' though." I offered helpfully.

"Thanks." He answered flatly through ground teeth.

"Look you, I think I deserve a little bit of happy me time after all the crazy we went through." I crossed my arms stubbornly.

"_You don't even remember what happened_!!!" He threw his arms down in a flourish, eye twitching ever so slightly.

"Ok. I think someone needs to _calm down_." I held my hands up in a 'whoa there, partner' fashion. Hiei apparently was going a little crazy himself, not that I could blame him. I mean, _if_ that tree story was true, it had to have been pretty grueling. Not to mention sanity would be questioned if the only other witness you had to the event didn't ever remember what happened (me).

"HOW CAN I CALM DOWN WITH _YOU_ AROUND?!!??!" Hiei finally just exploded.

"Um, By listening to my awesome singing. _Duh_." I shrugged my shoulders like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No more singing!!!!" Hiei crossed his arms in a big 'x' that somehow gave me negative vibes. It was almost as if he didn't want my v\beautiful happy chirping, but that would be ridiculous.

"Look you spiky haired nub, you need a little happy time or you'll go crazy. Besides, you owe me and thus, you will repay me through song."

"HOW THE HELL DO _I_ OWE _YOU_?!!?"

"Dude. Calm the fuck down." I was beginning to think Hiei was a little stressed. "Besides, I saved your ass, you violated my privacy, and you call me scrawny." I ticked off each item on my fingers, "For such heroics and abuse, you own me." Hiei really looked like he was reaching the breaking point. Probably baffled by my awesome logic so, in order to avoid confusion, I threw in an ultimatum before he could get a word in edgewise. "Don't _make_ me hug you."

"FINE!!!! SING YOUR DAMN SONGS!!!!!!"

"Really? Yay!" I clapped my hands gleefully and instantly lapsed into song. Hiei sighed heavily muttering some nonsense about abuse. Pshaw. Like I ever abused him.

This is pretty much where the music montage goes, as pretty much the next few hours nothing but me singing classics such as 'I'm on my way' and 'Music Is My Hot Hot Sex'. Luckily, Hiei had no idea what I was singing about, so I didn't have to worry about weird looks even when I sang 'Love Gun' which I normally keep under wraps just because signing about dicks isn't exactly ladylike.

Then again, sex and man parts wasn't the only thing I sang about. I mean, I also sang mushy stuff like 'I'm yours' and stuff like that. Oh, and singing about fictional pocket monsters was a major highlight. Not to mention it was cool being able to wail Brittney Spears and Hilary Duff and other 'uncool' artists at the top of my lungs without being shot through the head (which totally would happen back in the states). But, despite not being able to understand what or who I was singing about, I sensed that Hiei wasn't fond of those particular songs (then again he didn't really like any of them).

By the time we stopped again, I was in desperate need of water, not that I cared. It really felt good to sing until your throat was dry. Besides, I still had plenty of volume to harass Hiei with as I demonstrated upon the break.

"¿Qué pasa, mi amigo?" I draped my arm around Hiei's shoulders, leaning into him slightly, trying to get a look at whatever had caused him to stop. We were at the top of this huge valley, trees parting gently on either side as if trying to lure us down. I looked back, wondering if Hiei and I had walked up hill and that's why there was this big gorge to cross. Oddly enough, we hadn't, the ground just simply dropped off here. I found this especially interesting since the ocean couldn't have been too far away and it seemed impossible that the fresh water stream we'd been following didn't empty into the ocean but rather, what seemed like the reverse, which, like I said, seemed impossible because that would logically mean the stream was actually salt water, but it wasn't. Perplexed, I took my arm off Hiei and stepped forward, scanning the valley for any other interesting details.

Hiei was watching me now, as if expecting some sort of reaction from me. I squinted and looked at the valley harder, knowing that there had to be something other than that vast, grassy plain. (Looking at grassy plains kinda made me sleepy, since it was my bed of choice). I forced myself to stay vigilant for whatever Hiei was looking at.

Then I saw it.

Nestled in the center of the valley was a small town. Roofs green as the grass, it was impossible to distinguish from the environment except for tiny little wood chimneys; smoke drizzling out in patches. My eyes widened. It was just like a small story book town. Upon second glance, larger buildings formed from fat, healthy trees and the stream twinkled merrily alongside the town, circling it like a moat. It was beautiful.

"B-but… how?!" My mouth dropped open. I glanced back at the decrepit, deathly forest behind me and then back to the beautiful little glen in front. It seemed so crazy that the scenery could change so quickly. I pointed my finger back and forth, confused, until Hiei finally grabbed my hand, stopping me.

He raised an eyebrow and muttered, "Not exactly the reaction I was expec-"

"_AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"_ Hiei clapped his hands over his ears to protect them from my er, enthusiastic response. Clapping my hands together and over my mouth, jumping up and down, I pointed at the field, shrieking, "A town!!! _It's a town_!!! _Look!_!"　Estatic, I threw my arms around Hiei, giving him a good squeeze and then squealed again, delighted.

Hiei closed his eyes, grabbed my arms and gently but firmly pushed me away. He then stuck his pinky finger in his ear and patted it with his palm like he was trying to get something out of it. "Ow." He said simply.

"Sorry…" I muttered sheepishly, realizing that I probably damaged his hearing. But unable to contain myself, I gestured wildly in the direction of the town and squealed, "But _look_!!!!"

"Now that's the reaction I was looking for." Hiei sighed like he was relieved then made a disgusted face, fiddling with his ears again. "I think…"

"Sorry…" I muttered again, Hiei rolled his eyes and grabbed my arm, pulling me forward.

"Come on."

**Soooooo, I was gunna make this chappie longer but after my dinosaur computer dying for another, what? 4 weeks? I decided you all had suffered too much already so i wasn't gunna postpone another week. Now review blast you all or there shall be more suffering to come!!! XD**

**Bhel-Elryss: Actually, it's a dollar fifty a pound thank you very much! Lolz, and yes, sadly only a pause button. You'll see why later.**

**Yoli16: Lolz, thanks**

**Kitsunekuruoshii: here ya go, like it? XD**

**Valinor's Twilight: Glad u liked!**

**Kyrie Twilight: No… 69's the sex metaphor! XD Math not English because she suffers from sever math nightmares!! For reals though, she sucks at math. Glad to hear I didn't go mary sue on you, I'm trying to make the story as realistic as possible (for a yuyu fic anyway) so there has to be a **_**reason**_** why this happens and blah blah blah, so I have to even out some ends by severely pounding down normal traits for the more er… exceptional. Anyway, you'll see where that's headed soon and I hope it doth please you. XD (ttly not humanly possible- I'm so lucky he's in this story)**


	22. The Taste Of Vegtables

**Ok, so a bunch of you kept mentioning LOTR and, being the noob I am, I didn't understand what you people were talking about. WHAT WERE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!?!?!?! *cries* Er… ahem. **_**Anyway**_**, I typed it in on google, the modern godess, and it said 'Lord of the Rings'. I didn't realize you were all fans of this and must disappoint you by saying I've never read or watched any of them. Haha, sorry if that offends any die hards out there. That said, I must say, **_**nerds**_**!! Go to any forest where there's been a fire and you'll see a similar seen like the one in the last chappie (dramatic change in scenery I mean) and **_**that's**_** what I was going for. But yes, there very well will be elves in this but no hobbits I'm sad to say, lolz. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chappie regardless of random memories they spark? **

The town was rather small and, despite it's beautiful appearance, had a certain spine tingling element. Hiei sensed it too and I could feel the tension rolling off him in waves. We arrived at the city late afternoon but the sun was still high in the sky. Dozens of oddly shaped, painted signs lined the rims of the pristine tree-houses but oddly enough, though the signs seems frail and light, not a single one moved in the breeze.

"Hey Hiei…" I muttered out of the corner of my mouth, eyes never leaving the too-perfect city in front of us. "Don't you think this is a little… _weird_?"

"Figures. A city this close was too good to be true anyway. I bet the people were eaten by those trees." Hiei muttered back darkly. I shuddered. True, perhaps the trees had overrun this town long ago and its pristine look was only thanks to the favorable fertilizer.

"Don't say shit like that, you're giving me the creeps…" I muttered back. "Let's try finding someone."

One of the signs above our heads stood out in my eye. It was a black color with odd green writing that I instinctively knew meant 'herbalist'. How I knew, I wasn't sure, but I tried turning the tree bark handle on the door and let myself and Hiei inside. The ceiling was dotted with wind chimes and pinwheels although not even the slightest gust ruffled the prim, satin curtains lining the windows. An array of bizarre plants I'd never seen full of colors I was unable to place filled every windowsill, shelf, and corner in the room. The smell of burning pin needles and oak filled the room. I wondered if the smell came from incense or from burning plants behind the long, beaded curtain where I could see smoke pouring out.

"Hello?" I called bravely, "Is anyone here?"

The wind outside seemed to howl and suddenly I could hear a gabble of conversation outside the door. Hiei's hand hovered protectively near his blade and we both turned back to see, through one of the little windows, an onslaught of people gabbing and going about daily business. I edged closer to Hiei and cried out in surprised when a horse, gruff voice answered my call.

"Who is it?! Wot you want?" A gangly, elderly woman with brittle cobweb hair hobbled out from behind the beaded curtain. She glared at Hiei for a second the turned to take in my own appearance. Her eyes seemed uninterested for moment before those milky-white orbs widened in astonistment, her mouth hanging open like a fish showing rows of black and rotting pointed teeth. "Such pretty hair…" she murmured and cackled to herself. She straightened the hunch in her back and added what seemed to be several feet to her stature, making her seem demented and senile, her bulk taking nearly half the room. "Come 'ere girl." She held out a gnarled hand to me.

"Uh, that's ok." I answered uneasily, taking a step towards the door. Her unwavering gaze followed my movement, never leavening the tip of my scalp, or nape of my neck… "We just wanted to know where we are, but I can see you're busy..."

"Never too busy for such a… pretty young girl…" There was a kind of lust in her eye that made me nervous, she took a step forward, clawed hand an inch from my face…but Hiei was quicker that either of us. With just enough time to blink, Hiei had shoved me behind him, towards the door, and had his unsheathed sword held out threateningly towards the hag.

"We're leaving." He growled at me and I didn't waste breath with argument; the woman's penetrating stare still clung to me as I left the shop. Hiei closed the door harder than necessary and, pushing me forward, led me into the strange, miraculous crowd that began to seep through the streets like blood in an animal. Many of the people were hooded, hunched and seemingly small like the woman had been. I could see grey, sickly skin poking out from underneath and the eyes that lurked on my face were the milky white of blindness. I felt unnerved at the stares I was getting as Hiei pulled me through the crowd and was perplexed that, despite his own seemingly odd appearance, Hiei seemed to blend seamlessly into the fray. It couldn't have been my height, Hiei and I were both many heads shorter than these strange creatures and, as I accidentally bumped into one, I though I felt foreign fingers in my hair. I quickened my pace and linked arms with Hiei. He seemed to sense my unease and turned down an alley between two perfect, green houses. The alley led down into what looked like an empty town square. The nape of my neck prickled and I was about to suggest leaving when a strong, savage arm grabbed mine by my wounded forearm, paralyzing me with pain. Rough hands grabbed my scalp and forced my head up to see my captor. I could barely see through his tattered hood the gray, lumpy flesh underneath. His breath smelled of dry rot and decay when he spoke.

"Wot's this 'en? A nymph?" He cackled, I could hear a frustrated snarled behind me and the idea that one of these creatures could stop Hiei frightened me. "'N look how much uh this she 'as…" He declared gleefully and yanked on my hair causing me to yelp. Time seemed to stand slow; I was painfully aware of the laughter surrounding him, no doubt his friends had joined in, and could hear Hiei yelling frustration.

"Thar yeh are lass!!!" A warm hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me away from the creatures. I was vaguely aware of intense gold eyes and heard the same supple, oddly accented voice demand furiously, "Do yeh know how much _trouble_ yeh'll be in when the boss know wot yeh've been doin'?!?"

I was vaguely aware that the creatures, hesitant, let me go and it struck me that if I wanted to get out of this I was expected to play along. Putting the situation into perspective, yet still worried about Hiei, I falsely tried to defend myself. "But I _told _you where I was going and I even brought Hiei with me!"

Thank the gods, this caused my rescuer to look over at the little yokai and pull him free too. "And _yeh_!!" He yanked Hiei out of the fray by the shoulder, "Yeh're 'possed teh _protect_ this 'un!!! Yeh just let the lass do wot she likes?!?"

Hiei, not familiar with acting and reluctant to accept help, crossed his arms and looked away in a defiant sort of way. Somehow this seemed to be the perfect thing to do, because our savoir grabbed Hiei by the arm like a naughty child. "Oh just _wait _yeh two!" He seethed and dragged the both of us away from what could very well have been our graves. As soon as we rounded the corner, Mr. Hero doubled over with laughter.

Now that I got a proper look at him, I could tell he was a strong, well-sculpted young man in at least his early twenties. He was tall and slender. His arms seemed almost comical compared to the rest of his body. His black tank top cut off at his shoulders, which shook with laughter, revealing very large, well-shaped biceps that I would have thought belonged to a bodybuilder if they had not been slightly downsized to fit his slim build. Bright orange hair covered his head in a messy, oddly spiked kind of mane that just barely covered well-shaped eyebrows and a tiny section of his golden eyes that, when he looked at me and Hiei, seemed to have flecks of violet within them. However, it wasn't the eyes that gave way to his unique heritage. Large, slender ears poked out from either side of his mane that gave way to a rounded sort of point as if someone had taken a normal ear and pulled it like taffy until it was long and thin.

"Well, yeh don't run inteh _tat_ e'ryday, now do yeh?" He gave a good-natured laugh that enticed me to laugh with him. I noticed that one of his fairly white teeth was longer than the others and, if I squinted, I could just make it out when he closed his plump pink lips and it overlapped just so. He held out a hand. I took it and found he had a firm grip, his nails slightly tipped with dirt making me wonder if he'd been doing some sort of gardening or such. "Name's Elric." He told me, giving a cute little nod of his head along with a shake of the wrist that flipped his hair into his eyes. He blew at it in annoyance and I giggled.

"Midori." I told him and retracted my hand to jerk a thumb at Hiei. "And the dwarf's Hiei."

I mean it as affectionate teasing, but Elric seemed to think I meant it.

"A dwarf, eh?" He peered around me at Hiei who glared at me. "Just o' lil' bit tall fer 'un, don't yeh tink?"

I burst out laughing. "Hiei? _Tall?_" I snorted, "In _what_ universe?! Yeow!"

Hiei, not amused, had ever so gently pinched my forearm that was still sore from manhandling. He looked the other way; arms crossed and defiant as if he had no clue why I'd yelped but didn't care. Fucking dwarves…

"Anyway…" I muttered, rubbing my arm and addressing Elric, "Thanks for the help."

"Nuthin' doin'." He said cheerily and I assumed he mean 'No prob' or something of the like. Noticing Hiei's rude behavior, I elbowed him in the stomach.

He shot me a murderous look and muttered to the elf, "Yeah, thanks…"

"Narge clan, am I right?" Elric, who must've been at least a foot taller than Hiei had bent over and was peering at his face. "Yer eyes give yeh away."

Hiei, taken aback, turned away from Elric and growled, "Think what you want, fool, but give me my space."

Mortified, I looked at Elric to see if Hiei's blunt attitude had offended him. Miraculously, Elric gave a hearty guffaw and ruffled Hiei's hair. "Oh that's a Narge alright!!" Hiei, annoyed, slapped his hand away and gave him one of his award winning glares; this just seemed to enthrall a curious Elric, "So yeh know swords huh?" He continued, "Dun know much meself but Hern, he know 'is swords that he does."

"Hern?" I asked curiously, "Who's that?"

"He's-" Elric seemed to hesitate for a moment, "Well he's- he's a-" He seemed to struggle for a word, like he hadn't exactly figured out what this Hern fellow was to him yet. "I'd call 'im a friend I guess…" he answered, unsure of himself, face turning a pinkish hue.

"_Ohhhhhhh…_" I crooned; I knew where this was going. "You like him, don't you?"

"Well, wot's not teh like? He's a good… friend…" He was avoiding my glance and I thrilled with finding another cutie to screw with, I thought I saw Hiei roll his eyes.

"Yeah…" I poked Elric's chest playfully, "But you _liiiike _him, don't you?"

"Ah…well, I…" Elric seemed thoroughly embarrassed and he quickly opted to change the conversation, "So, uh, if you dun mind me asking, wot's a nymph doin' in Vgilalie-ból Hutton?"

"Nymph… I'm not a-" "So is that what this city's called?" Hiei interrupted quickly. Maybe he thought being a nymph would be safer than a human would.

"Yeah, it means teh 'city o' illusions' er sumthin' o' teh like." He shook his head, unintentionally ruffling his mane. "Me? I hate it 'ere, I do but I can't afford not sellin' 'ere."

"Selling what?" I asked.

"Why, vegetables o' course!" He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Though dun tell no one but me veggies are grown the old fashion way." He made a motion like he was planting imaginary seeds.

"What's wrong with that?" If that was the 'old fashion' way, then it was definitely organic, which I liked better anyway.

He gave me such a look, like I'd grown a second head and asked gently, "Yeh nymphs aren't too concerned wit teh world any more are yeh? How long yeh been down there yeh tink?"

"Uh…?"

"Sorry, tat thar's none o' me business. I mean, I'm 'un elf tat can't sing, I can't talk like tat now can I?" He gave another one of his good-natured laughs. I wanted to ask what the hell he was talking about but Hiei elbowed me to shut me up. "Ifin yeh dun want a 'nother run-in wit those guys, yeh guys are welcome teh help me sell me crops. Teh Great Deus knows I could use a little bit o' help." He turned to lead us but I saw a little abnormality that made me gasp.

"Holy shit! You have a tail?!" I pointed at the long slender little shape that resembled the tail of a cow or lion.

"Ah, yes? Most elves do thar lass." He laughed and said, "Later, I'd be will'n teh tell yeh all tat thing yeh missed being underground."

So many questions flitted through my mind, but Hiei made it clear that until we knew more about Elric, we weren't asking questions. That part drove me mad, but throughout the course of the day I managed to swallow it and just enjoy hanging with our elven friend. The vegetables he grew were… unique. A bright cornucopia of colors and smells assaulted my senses and an 'Eiffiw', which was an odd mixture of pear, plum, and feisty female, tried to gnaw off my thumb when I was handing it to a customer. Elric made me wear a hat to hide my hair. He told me it was so someone wouldn't try to 'buy' me too. That question nearly made me explode, but Hiei 'tending' to my thumb took my mind off it. All and all, the day was pretty relaxing and Hiei and I finally got some food. It was really hard at first to think about eating the plants, being a vegetarian you usually don't eat things that move and a vast majority of the vegetables were enough like animals that they had to be 'quieted' before they were ready to eat. Hiei and Elric finally convinced my to eat this odd kind of seedling that tasted kind of like a plantain and broccoli. It was one of the few plants that didn't seem to have a mind of its own. Finally, the last of the produce was sold and we began to pack up the display.

"Yeh know…" Elric was focusing on tying the tarps together, "Me home's only a 'lil ways away. Few hours mebe but its much nicer than any place yeh'll find 'ere 'n it won't cost you a cent…"

"Wait we're not going to _walk_ are we?" I asked in disbelief and eyeing the now dark sky. The sun had already long since set and after Hiei's tales, I wan't going near a forest at night again.

"Dun worry 'bout that lass, yeh won't have teh walk, ifin yeh decided to come that is." His eyes were hopeful as I turned to consult with Hiei.

His eyes were guarded and I could tell from his expression he was about to refuse so I piped up, "Really?!? That would be great!!"

"Midori…" Hiei let out a warning growl and Elric chuckled.

"Yeh dun have teh worry 'iei. I'm just a simpler farmer I am, sides it looks teh me yeh dun have nowhere teh stay am I right?"

"Fine." Hiei looked the other way in annoyance.

"Yay! Then it's settled!" I cheered and gave Elric a hug, "Thank you so much!!"  
"Nuthin' doin' lass." Elric chuckled, "Yeh'll be teh ones doin' me a favor really. Haven't 'ad visitors fer a long time Hern 'n I, it'll be nice teh have company."

"Then it'll be our pleasure!" I smiled and he returned it. Hiei looked like he was ready to go the other way so I grabbed his arm and dragged him along. We walked for a few minutes to the edge of the city where a small carriage sat primly atop the green grass in the cool night air. Hooked up to the front were two tall and beautiful little creatures. They seemed to be lizards, overgrown thousands of time but with a timely sort of look about them. Their blue pelts shone in the faint moonlight and their wide yellow eyes seemed to read into the very depths of me. Despite such a beautiful sight, I felt my heart plummet as I once again took in the ornate, white wagon.

"W-we're riding in _that_?" I tried to keep my voice diplomatic but Elric seemed to take my nerves for something else, like surprise.

"Well, them plants are 'o bit finicky, they are." He said sheepishly as if to explain the fancy means of conveyance. He walked to the door and pulled it open, gesturing for us to go ahead, before walking around to the front and petting one of the dragon-like animals. When neither I nor Hiei entered, he said, "Dun worry 'bout manners, just go on in thar."

"Actually, I think I'd rather prefer walking, you two go on ahead…." I edged away from the carriage door, nervousness seeping through every pore like a cold sweat at the mere thought of riding in it. It wasn't as if I was scared of the damn thing but any means of conveyance that took my feet anywhere from being firmly rooted on the ground was a… concern. Bikes, buses, cars, even horses. I was fine with planes… as long as I was observing takeoff on my sofa at home from a popular movie my T.V. decided to churn out, but even then, I felt an odd sort of… _pit _expanding in my stomach and closing up my throat. Hiei, seemingly under the impression I was a hapless nitwit with awareness for nothing, even my own self-perseverance, was genuinely perplexed to see me wary of such a beautiful, ornate and deceptively safe looking contraption.

"You were just complaining about walking." Hiei narrowed his eyes and threw a furtive glance at the bright elven man fitting what I could only assume to be an odd sort of harness to one of the lizards. It was clear that he thought that, rather than being scared witless of this new means of conveyance, I was somehow trying to tell him that our newest friend wasn't trustworthy. Wanting to clear up the situation, but not wanting to show Hiei weakness, I looked at my feet and tried to unearth a stubborn pebble with the toe of my boot.

"Well you know…" I mumbled awkwardly, fighting for words to explain my behavior. "Walking's good for you 'n stuff…" I finished lamely. Hiei opened his mouth to comment but just then Elric finished tightening the harness and, with a noisy slap to the leather strap, told us we were ready to go. This caused a short, unnerving silence to flit between us, resulting in Elric voicing concern.

"Oi laddies, havin' a change o' heart are we?" His brow furrowed and his wide gold orbs sparkled with confusion and disappointment. I deliberately avoided his gaze as he came back to check the carriage. "Swear nothin's been thar but me vegetables." He patted the side again and peered in through the purple curtains. "Wot's wrong? Did I leave 'un?" He half climbed in to look for another one of those peculiar, animated little creatures he called 'vegetables' though his good natured concern was wasted. If it was living veggies, I could handle it.

"Uh… It's not that… but I was… isn't this a little conspicuous?" I blurted.

"Cunspitush?" Elric purposefully slurred the word through his already thick accent to show how ridiculous he thought the idea to be. "Now lass, havin' yeh looked what be atop yer head thar?"

"Well, can't we just walk or…" I persisted but he cut me off.

"If yeh even want teh have a _chance_ o' gettin' thar, this'll be the way ta do it." He rapped the pristine framework and I wished he wouldn't do that. The very thought of hitting the thing made me think it'd fall right off its wheels and shatter into little pieces, absurd as the thought may be.

"I know but…" Desperate now, I tried to find _some_ excuse, anything at all, that would put off being in that _thing_ a second longer.

The wheels in Hiei's head had steadily begun to turn apparently because, quietly, unbelievingly, he said, "You're _afraid_… aren't you?" His eyebrows knitted together, eyes facing the ground as if he was saying it to himself to make the idea more real. He looked at me, perplexed, "That's it, isn't it." It wasn't a question but regardless I felt the ridiculous urge to defend myself.

"No!" I looked frantically at the seemingly innocent town, the trees, ground. Anything to look at except that _thing_. "I just get carsick easily, ok?" Once again, horribly lame I know, but there wasn't anything else I could think of and I could feel panic starting to well up in me.

Elric, who had begun to worry he'd offended me somehow, brightened. "Ah is _that _it?" He slapped my shoulder in good spirits but with enough force that I had to grab the carriage's open door to steady myself, knocking my hat off and no doubt dislocating my shoulder again. "Yeh don't have teh worry o' bit lass, I'll go real slow 'n smooth here." He laughed cheerfully and helped me into the damn thing despite my protests; all giggles now that he thought it was only a little bit of queasiness to worry about. "Up we go thar!"

"_No! _Wait!" _You carrot topped idiot!!!!_ I wanted to scream at him but Hiei, who recognized this as possibly the only chance to get going, swiftly followed in after me and, before I even had a chance to get up from the floor, heard the deafening click of the door being securely locked in place. This did not stop me from rattling the door, clawing at it and yelling a stream of choice profanities. Hiei opted to stay quiet in the corner and I could hear Elric's soft laughter. No other options, I began to bang my forehead against the single hard bench-like seat (probably installed for someone to hold the more finicky of Elric's crops). I prayed that if I couldn't get out of the damn thing that I would at least fall unconscious and gave a soft, miserable groan when the carriage jerked to life.

This was by far, the absolute worst part. I could feel the movement of the ground beneath me and had no control when, or even if, it would stop, or the directions we would go. The only things I could see was not beautiful green pastures of the country or even those horrible dead trees but only a soft, light through a small window in the roof that illuminated the many purple, velvet curtains and hard wooden bench I'd sunk my claw into to minimize movement. Regardless, my stomach started doing little flip-flops and I felt a cold sweat break across my brow, my breathing increasing into panicked little bursts.

"Ohhh…" I moaned. "I feel sick…"

Hyperventilating always gave me a headache.

"So that wasn't a complete lie then." Hiei mused. I had been too preoccupied to notice, but I found that Hiei had also decided to take the bench but while I had partially draped myself over my end, legs splayed awkwardly on the floor, head resting on the cool, hard surface while my hands dug into it for dear life, Hiei was pretty and pristine. His arms crossed neatly over his chest, spine erect with good posture against the framework and piercing red eyes watched my every move.

"Fuck you…" I muttered darkly, staring at the tiny ridges in the wood's grainy surface. I shuddered and took a deep breath to hold back a scream; the tree wrought monster had just turned.

"Of course the only thing that could scare you would be such a ridiculous one as this." Hiei's very unwelcome voice assaulted my ears. I growled, but said nothing feeling a strange bout of hysteria beginning to lap at my mind. This stupid thing would drive me insane. "What is so terrifying about this anyway?" Hiei sounded bored, indifferent, like it made no difference to him if I answered or not but when I turned my head to glare at him I could see a hunger in those red orbs of his.

"I'm not scared…" I muttered indignantly and looked away. "And what's there _not_ to hate about this stupid thing?" I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to imagine myself anywhere but here. "We're trapped until the doors are unlocked." I tightened my fists at the reality behind that comment. "We can't see where we're going, or control it for that matter. What if the road gave way to a hill? Intentional or not, we'd pick up speed. We could shatter into a million little pieces on a tree, fly off a cliff and not know until it's far to late. This stupid thing limits freedom, it's a mobile cage." I muttered spitefully, my body trembling with rage or, at least, that's what I told myself it was.

"So you have control issues." He scoffed like he expected it. "Anything you can't control, you hate. And this is just one of those things."

"Fuck you!!" It was supposed to be an accusing and majorly pissed statement, but it sounded like the bark of a frightened dog from behind a fence. "What are _you_ scared of then? Like you don't like to control the situation yourself not that that has anything to do with it!!"

Hiei smirked and said something pompous and infuriating. I retaliated with violence.

We spent the majority of our ride trying to scratch out the others eyes and eventually ended up in a half-conscious tangled mess on the floor.

Later, I figured out that that was Hiei's bizarre way to show concern. He'd taken pity on me and had tried to help me through the carriage ride. It was quiet smart actually, knowing that I had a one-track emotional mind and, being hot headed, it was easy to replace my fear with anger.

By the time the ride ended, we'd both released enough frustration to feel fresh and relaxed for the first time since we appeared in this bizarre world. That feeling quickly went away for me when I actually got off the damn thing though. I stumbled blindly off the contraption and instantly fell to my knees, which were weak with relief. After being stuck inside for so long, I wasn't used to the strange smells and new, loud noises. My senses were quickly overwhelmed and I retched up the contents of my empty stomach.

Elric, who seemed apologetic offered a meek, "We're here?" And gave me a sheepish little smile. I did not return it.

**Alright!!! And that finishes this chappie!! Yayz! Wow… I don't like long car trips but really, Midori, that's a little much!! Anyway, you know the drill, review if you liked!!! **

**kitsunkuruoshii****: ****度も有賀とございます！！****In other words; Thank you very much!! XD Kool huh? I figured out how to make my computer bilingual! Fear me!!!**

**Valinor's Twilight: You have no idea how much grief and confusion you put me through with that stupid LOTR thing. I was majorly confused and wanted to know what the hell you were talking about but didn't wanna influence my writing and just as I made up my mind to figure out what the hell you were talking about my internet DIED!!! ARGH!!!!! (rips hair out in chunks) Eh hem… (awkward cough) glad you like the chapter? **

**Bhel-Elryss****: Nope, not that obvious because it was all an illusion ooooohh~!! (waggles fingers in crappy haunted house fashion) Eh hem! Moving on, wtf is Legolas? I now know what LOTR (damn u 'i.m.' speak!!!) is and Peter Pan is ttly my favorite book but wtf is Legolas!?!?!? And no, forests don't scare Hook silly!! Only marshes cuz that's where the crocodiles are! Rawr! **


	23. Ah lazyness

_**Fe Fi Fo Fum!!! I smell the blood of a non reviewer, and I **_**will**_** find thee!!!! **_**Jk, jk. But for realz guys, don't make me sadface!!! DX**

**Oh, and for all who have stayed with me long enough to get the referencing in this chappie's title, you get a cookie!!!**

I could see why Elric liked Hern so much. He was handsome, in that rugged sort of way. He was far more muscled than Elric, with deep violet eyes and dark, chocolate brown skin. His hair was a deep dark navy that I mistook for black on first glance, and smelled strongly of sap and warm dirt. Elric later told me that, while he was a helper on the farm, Hern focused on chopping the large lumber Elric couldn't do himself.

Another point that made Hern so attractive was his kindness. The term 'gentle giant' couldn't be truer and that's just what Hern was, a giant, or at least partially. He wouldn't say who his father was, only that his 'mum' was a giantess. I would speculate on how interspecies relationships work, not too mention… ehem… size differences… but seeing as Hern was perfectly fine and Elric didn't seem too concerned with his lover's stature, I quietly put that to the back of my curious and perverted little mind. Now don't take this the wrong way, my fellow pervs, Hern was big, _huge, _but he was only about eight or nine feet, which, compared to Elric, wasn't the hugest height difference, possibly only two or so feet separated their height.

So, anyway… Hern was also a pretty damned good cook. Thus, I give top cookies to Elric for his choice in men. Of course, I was fucking starving, but Hern was still a _really_ good cook. Definitely better than me at least but then again, I was the only kid in grade school who managed to set her cupcakes on fire in home ec, but pastries weren't really my thing anyway so I had a distinct disadvantage. And I must admit Easy Bake to be a fucking liar- there was nothing easy about it- but that was besides the point… I can make salads though. Good salads. And other organic tree hugger crap as my oh so supportive mother called my concoctions… apparently not everyone is as fond of a spinach and peanut butter protein shakes as I am.

I sighed and further immersed myself in the pleasing heat of a natural hot spring as I thought of this and other random concepts I'd picked up on during dinner. Like, for one, Hern seemed pretty interested in Elric too which, being the nosy person I am, may just mean an eventful day in matchmaking tomorrow.

I watched steam flit off the water's surface for a few seconds before I stood up and glanced at the peaceful little farmhouse I could just make out between the protective rocks lining the spring. It was two story, tan little thing with a bright red roof that looked newly painted. Slightly decrepit, it leaned to one side in a fond and love sort of way. With a sigh, I pulled myself out of the heated water, fearing a slight lightheadedness felt in my temple. I thought about how nice it would be to have a house similar to Elric's of my own one day as I let the cool night air chill my steaming flesh while sitting atop one of the rocks lining the spring, feet dangling in carelessly, pure as the day I was made. I took a moment to examine my arms, legs and other areas and found that there was a large scar on my arm as well as peculiar circular one centered above my breasts. Vaguely, a bell seemed to ring in my head and I suddenly had an impression of Hiei smugly telling me 'I told you so.' I wondered if this was the wound I supposedly got from the trees. I was so immersed in the inspection of my body (no breast cancer, whoo!) that I didn't even notice that I wasn't alone until I hear a startled gasp and a splash. Somebody tripped.

"Don't drown." I muttered vaguely, slipping back into the water. It wasn't that I was body conscious, I wouldn't care if anyone saw me, not to mention Hern and Elric were (assumed to be) gay. However, even for me, the night was a little too chill to stay out of the water for long. I settled on a middle and left my top exposed so I wouldn't die of overheating as I curiously watched the bubbles where whoever it was stumbled. I was beginning to wonder if I should do something, I mean what if they really _were _drowning?, when, seconds later, Hiei popped up sputtering and gasping. With a roll of my eyes, I pulled him up onto his feet so I was sure he wouldn't drown. I was slightly disappointed to find that, to Hiei, the water was deep enough to cover his chest and murky enough with natural minerals to hid _everything_. Awww… Annoyed by this, and that my quiet time had been intruded on, I sighed and loftily said, "I hope you realize you ruined the atmosphere with your drowning."

Hiei, eyes widening slightly, spun around and, ignoring my question, demanded, "Have you no shame?!?"

"Um?" I watched his ears turn steadily redder as the silence dragged on before it clicked. "Ah ha!!! So my body _does_ have some effect of you!!"

"Of course it does. And that 'effect' just so happens to be my gag reflex." Hiei said briskly, like shooing away an annoying fly. Bastard. He then, as if to prove that he really didn't give a damn (which he obviously did), he went to go rest on one of the immersed stones, deliberately passing me along the way. I sighed in annoyance but, too full from good food and good spirits, decided against a snarky reply.

Deciding that standing was too tedious and that my appearance was too vomit worthy to Hiei to sit on the rim of the spring, feet dangling in just so, I found a particularly large rock surrounding the rim to sit on. It was just high enough to cool me while I enjoyed the spring. With a sigh, I sunk back into a more comfortable position.

Once or twice, I tried conversing with Hiei, but he was too immersed in the hot water to spare me a glance. Ah well, I guess he _did _earn himself a little rest and relaxation. Just as I was starting to _really _enjoy myself, I heard a faint clatter of someone climbing the rocks. I sighed and stood up, splashing the water huffily, "Oh _why _bother?!?!" Scanning the ridges, I found Hiei grumpily glaring at me out of the corner of his eye so I hissed, "_What?_"

He avoided looking directly at me and shook his head, I was about to say something when my world was momentarily covered in water. I whirled around, voicing displeasure as I tried to get my hair out of my face. Someone laughed a far too cheery mirth to possibly be Hiei (though I did hear a snort from him) and I yelled, splashing in that general direction, "_Elric!!!_"

"Oy, 'ey!! Watch it lass! I'm not in me swim gear!" I ducked under the water quickly to slick back my hair and found this to be true. He was perched on wall opposite where I had been enjoying myself, fully clothed with his pants rolled up and legs half submerged. Deciding I couldn't stay mad at that face, I swam over and rested my body against the ledge and set my arms and head on top, tilted ever so slightly to maintain the polite level of eye contact. Ignoring his comment, I said, "So I'm guessing you're not joining us?"

"Yeh'd guess right, thar." He smiled. _He _didn't seem disgusted by my body, he seemed just fine. A look of confusion flitted briefly across his face and he gave Hiei a hesitant glance before dropping his voice and hiding his mouth behind his hand so he was sure Hiei wouldn't hear. Perplexed, I listened eagerly. "Actually, I came fer o' lil bit o' advice."

"Troubles in romance?" I asked mischievously, also lowering my voice. Elric blushed but, rather than denying it, nodded. "Alright, go ahead and tell me."

"Well… we- he 'n I that is- were in teh kitchen, finishing teh dishes," He paused, and I gestured for him to continue. "Well, we was just horsin' 'round like usual, when I tripped thar… 'n we… well it was _awkward_ it was…" I asked for him to elaborate, "He caught me, he did, 'n when I stood up… our faces were real close like… 'n he was lookin' all intense 'n then…" By the silence, I guessed that they hadn't made much progress. "He wouldn't talk teh me fer teh rest o' teh time we were cleanin'…"

"Does this happen often?" I asked, Elric sighed, leaving me to elaborate on my own thoughts, "It sounds to me like he likes you too, but is scared of what you think." After seeing Hern continually glance at Elric every time I spoke during dinner, gauging his reactions to anything I mentioned, I'd thought as much but this seemed to be better evidence. But still not enough to know for sure. "You should try the three second rule, to make sure."

"Teh t'ree second rule? Wot's that?" I laughed at the cute way Elric pronounced 'three' and explained.

"You see, if someone likes you, no matter how outgoing they are, they get embarrassed. If you happen to catch each other's glance and hold the stare and he looks away before three seconds, he likes you. That simple."

"But wot if he dun 'n he looks away anyway?"

"Trust me. He won't as long as the stare is a normal, calm one. If its too intense the yeah, anyone would look away, That's just awkward… and creepy… but! If it's just right… well, if it's just right then anyone who _doesn't_ like you that way will hold the stare on instinct. You know how animals submit dominance to gain a mate?" Elric nods. "It's like that. If he likes you, he'll 'submit', in other words- look away- but if he doesn't like you, he'll _challenge _you, hold the stare. The only time this won't work is like if they're freakishly competitive or uber shy and Hern doesn't seem like either, so you should try. Get it?"

"I _tink _so…" Elric looked doubtful and bit his lips, eyebrows knitted in concern. I smiled and decided a demonstration was in order.

"All right." I said, peeking up at Hiei through my bangs. "I'll show you. Hiei hates my guts, hates _me_. I _guarantee _he'll hold the stare." I didn't mention that Hiei's type would hold the stare even if he liked me because I knew Hiei thought I was far too disgusting anyway and this was more just to coax Elric into at least _trying_.

"Wait, yeh mean yeh two _aren't _together?" Elric looked a little shocked; I looked at him like he was crazy. Sure Hiei was hott, but he was liable to destroy any chance at childbearing I had if I made any unwanted advances, plus he was a friend and, as explained earlier, you don't do friends.

"No why?" He didn't answer, blushing slightly with a mutter that sounded like '_N'vr mind…_' With a roll of my eyes I said, "Just watch." I wiped the hair out of my face so I could see Hiei clearly, his back turned, and called, "_Hey, Hiei!!_"

Hiei whipped around and sent an uninterested and annoyed, "_What_?" my way. I mentally sighed at his rudeness but caught his eye and held it. After a second, Hiei hardened his stare into a glare as if to try to make me back down. Naturally I didn't. Our little staring competition ended when one of us blinked but neither had looked away. "There, you see?" I asked, "He _hates_ me." As if to prove this, Hiei angrily yelled something about 'not bothering him for useless reasons' or some other crap.

"That's o' lil bit harsh dun yeh tink?" Elric asked hesitantly, I just shrugged and asked if he understood what to do now, he nodded. "I'm willin teh try anything…" He sighed, "Just so's I know."

"Yeah, I know that feeling…" I muttered, this must've sparked another question because Elric suddenly asked;

"Uh, lass… just one last thing…"

"Mmm?" I was starting to relax again. Sure I didn't like a lot of hot things, but I could definitely live with hot springs.

"Well, just teh be clear, 'iei dun like you, but do you…?" He trailed off suggestively and I, taken by surprise, burst out laughing. Elric blushed again like he wished he didn't ask.

"Elric," I shook my head finally controlling my mirth, "I'll tell you something; that's one thought that hasn't and _never _will enter my head because if it does, and _he_ finds out, I can assure you I won't have one anymore." With that, I hoisted myself out of the water, slung my towel over my shoulder and headed back to the house giggling at the absurdity of Elric's question the whole way.

**Meh… just a short little chappie cuz I didn't feel like a big update. I'm gunna try updating weekly, so you might see a lot more of these chappies. Review if you liked!! And don't you stingys out there hold back! I know there's like thirty of you who haven't even said hi!! *Cries* Anyway, hope this chappie is a nice little break from all the doom and gloom. **

**kitsunkuruoshii****: Wait… what's scary? The chappie or the awesome Japanese characters? Cuz I was pretty excited to be bilingual in writing… *cries***

**Bhel-Elryss: So I'm guessing by your words that he's some sorta smoking hott elf? Lolz, thank you? I wasn't aware Bloom was into writing? And no, Hook doesn't run, he **_**struts**_**. Cuz he's just that cool. I'm so sorry I crushed you internally/externally? Anywhozits, sure they're zombie things, but we'll find out the deets in a later chappie. And you should know about the carriage thing, Midori is a feet planted firmly on the ground person. She panics when her feet leave ground and, had the spring not been so shallow, I can tell you she've had a panic attack and forced someone to accompany her as a life guard or some shit. But alas, we shall shave this for later too. **

**Crazy anime chick since 1993: Lolz, to what are you referring to? My awesome skillz in the review department or just my plain, regular type awesome? Or are you just referring to the story? Lolz, jk. And yes, I try writing based on it, but it'z so hard!!!!! Like I said, I'ma workin on it!!**


	24. Romance For Two Please

**In case no one has anything better to do with their Halloween weekend, I made an extra long chappie!! Yay!! Now, to get all insanely excited for trick or treating as a 16 year old purple pixie!!! Whoo!!! **

**Oh, and review if you liked it. Please review!!! XD **

**Also, I need to know if all my reviewers would be ok if I upped the rating to mature. No, that doesn't mean there will be sex galore you pervs!! But since real life is pretty much unrated and I have no idea how gory/sexual/real I might want to get in a later chapter, I'd rather not be hindered with the rating, ya know, better safe than sorry. I just wanna make sure no one would be uncomfortable with the idea. **

**Oh, nother thing, I know I already asked but now that the stories progressed further I'd like to get opinion on coupling (if any) with Midori. It may be that she's only a good friend or finds someone in this strange new world, either way, I'd like to see if anyone has any preferences still. Like I said before, I'll write what flows so it might never happen but I'd still like opinions. (cuz it means reviews!! XD) Plz let me know!! It only takes a minuet!!**

**These extravagantly annoying side notes said, thanks so much and enjoy the chappie!! **

Oh my god. Whhhhhhhy?! _Whhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy_!?!?!?!?!

Elric has been staring at me for the past hour out of the corner of his eye. He thinks he's being so sneaky, but he's really not. Currently, we're weeding the fields, the last of the ripe crops already picked. Hiei had wanted to leave this morning but that just wasn't going to happen after what he did. To top it off, now Elric probably thinks I'm a slut.

"So… er…" I can tell he's been wanting to ask this since we started weeding, "Yeh n' Hiei… yeh're not together but… do yeh _favor_ each other er sumthin?" See?!?! Seeeeeeeeeeeeeee?!!?!? He thinks I'm a slut!! God fucking damn you Hiei!!!

"Hell no!!!" I shot up indignantly, forgetting my task to let Elric feel the full wrath of my gaze. I can tell he wants to talk about this just as much as he doesn't. He continues to concentrate hard on his work and doesn't comment until I return to mine.

"So then… wot was tat ruckus up thar?" He asked innocently.

"Nuthin…" I mumbled; face burning with thoughts of events previous.

"_God dammit, woman! Calm the fuck down!!" Hiei snarled, annoyed. We had both finished breakfast and were now back in the small room Hern and Elric had so kindly let us use, preparing for the day. Hiei wanted to leave as soon as possible but my mind was elsewhere. After eating, right before Hiei and I went to our rooms again to 'freshen up' with the oversized clothes Elric lent us (Hern was far too tall to offer anything), Elric had discreetly asked Hern for a private word after trying and succeeding at the three second stare thing last night. How did I know this even though I hadn't actually seen this occur? Elric had briefed me before breakfast with his intentions. _Squeeeeee~_!!! I was just so goddamn excited. I hoped this went well. _

"_Geez, Hiei, you're a load of fun." I huffed and sat back on my knees, my cheeks puffed out in annoyance. He was right though; I'd just have to be patient so, seeking something to keep me entertained so the anticipation wouldn't kill me I, naturally, slipped my thoughts back to the only other person left. "Hey! I just thought of something!"_

"_Hn." Hiei seemed uninterested but I was curious and this would kill time. Hopefully long enough to know what happened with Hern when we finished. _

_Yes, the fire demon I was so accustomed to reading about was a strong fighter but, as far as I was concerned, the actual knowledge of his strength from experience is what I relied on more. I could feel his energy, the immense release of power when I'd infuriated him and the strength deep in his muscles. No book could ever describe that knowledge. What bothered me was, since we'd gotten here, Hiei seemed to be slowly deteriorating, and it worried me. Was it stress? Could it be my fault? I had to know, and I wanted to be gentle with the topic, knowing Hiei was prideful. Instead, still excited with thoughts of a possible love confession, I blurted, "What's up with you!? Aren't you like the hulk or something? How come we both keep almost getting fucking eaten? I mean, _me_? I understand that, but _you_?" That didn't even make sense to me. That didn't sound concerned, it sounded like an accusation. I mentally kicked myself, annoyed with my lack of tact. _

"_I'd agree to that if this damn world didn't hinder my recuperation." Hiei looked away like he was ashamed. _

"_Um?" I didn't understand. I mean, we slept like forever. Sure, we woke up early but that's farm life and I still felt pretty fucking good._

_Hiei, catching my look, sighed and explained, "I can't absorb any energy to refuel myself here, refuel my demon energy." He spoke slowly, like I was mentally handicapped then sighed and mused to himself, "It doesn't make sense, it's never been a problem- like breathing- so why…?" Intrigued enough to focus and, not liking to see him wearing such a muddled expression, I tried to cheer him with the best comparison I could come up with. _

"_Well sometimes breathing is kinda difficult and it hurts…" I muttered feebly, remembering how my chest felt after I nice long run. But that was a good pain so it was ok? Question mark?_

"_Oh shut up you fool!!" Hiei was across the room and brooding moodily before I could blink. I sighed and slowly got to my feet. _

"_I know!" I smiled, determined to cheer him in some way, even just by comforting annoyance. I walked over to him (he didn't even glance at me) and said, "If you're so tired I'll just give you some of my energy! Whoo~!!!" I waggled my fingers jokingly like a voodoo ritual and touched his shoulder to 'transfer' the energy. _

"_Wait." Hiei's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Do that again." _

_Sure he was messing with me, I frowned and said in confusion as flatly as I could, "I was kidding." _

"_Shut up, just do it again." Hiei growled, I rolled my eyes and, not willing to be the butt of whatever kind of joke this was headed to, crossed my arms. Hiei, annoyed, grabbed my arm, forcing it free, and held it still for a moment, eyes widening slightly. He looked shocked. So shocked, I don't think he realized how hard he was grabbing me._

"_Ow!" I twisted and squirmed, trying to release his iron grip. Why did he seem perfectly fine only when it came to bullying me? "Fuck, lemme go Hiei!" I screeched, the pain starting to bring tears to my eyes, which was not an easy feat. I was certain my wrist was about to snap when his grip loosened. _

"_Just what are you?!" He whispered fiercely, astonishment clear on his face; he slowly turned to glance down at where he was holding me, avoiding my face. _

"_Apparently I've been promoted to nymph thanks to you." I snarled with vicious sarcasm. "Now let me the hell go!!" _

_Something flashed in his eyes and he suddenly growled, "Get _away_ from me." His grip suddenly released and his voice, so cold, _murderous,_ sent me skidding on my ass half way across the room before I could process he wasn't in the room anymore. _

_Now I was pissed._

_I leapt to my feet and chased after him. I found him standing immobile on the stairs, lost in thought. I was seriously pissed. Did he seriously tell me to get away from him after nearly breaking my wrist from holding me so tightly?! That prick!!! Forgetting that stairs were a very dangerous foe, I pushed off the top of the stairs with a flying kick that collided with Hiei just as I screamed, "GET AWAY FROM _YOU_?!?! YOU WERE THE ONE FUCKING HOLDING _ME_!!!!!" _

_Smart Midori. Smart. With a curse of astonishment from the little fire yokai, we both went flying down the stairs in a very, very painful jumble of arms. My head crashed into the wall at the base of the stairs with a sickening crack. God I hope I wasn't permently retarded now. My thoughts were jumbled and I was vaguely aware that Hiei had somehow landed on top of me. _

_It wasn't until I heard a noise, like someone trying to make their presence known in an awkward situation, before I processed what was happening. Hiei had landed directly on top of me, sure, but my legs had splayed out and seemed to be wrapped around his torso. In an attempt to stop the tumbling, he had probably reached for the floor, however, his hands had landed directly on my breasts and our faces were less than a centimeter apart. Our eyes met for a fraction of a second before, embarrassed, we both looked away at the same time just to find two more sets of orbs watching us. Dumbfounded, it was all Hiei and I could do but stare, astonished, at Hern and Elric, who had just walked in the door. My face felt like it was on fire. _

_Humiliated, I tried to find an excuse, anything, when I noticed gloves on Elric's hands. Remembering my curiosity, and trying to find someway to save myself from sheer and utter awkwardness, I shoved Hiei off me as quickly as possible, jumped to my feet and grabbed Elric by the shoulder and out the door with an innocent, "Oh!? We're starting in the fields already?!?!" as if I had merely been waiting around. _

This is how I ended up where I am now.

Elric let out a loud laugh, startling me from my thoughts. "Tat that dun look like nuthin' now did it?"

I sigh, rolling my eyes with full knowledge that he's wasn't gunna stop until he got a better answer. "It was just a misunderstanding. I sorta kicked Hiei down the stairs and that's what happened. My bad, nothing else."

"Oh tat's a relief. I thougt those scuffs thar were… well…" He trailed off and I, face flushing, said, "Not that the thought of passionate sex isn't alluring but I can tell you I'd be suicidal to do it at a friends house. Now enough of this!" I sent a furtive glance over at the elf, "How'd Hern take it?"

"Oh! Uh… well… yeh know…" Elric blushed and mumbled.

"You didn't tell him." I accused.

"I can't! Wot if he dun like me like that!?"

"Then what the heck did you spend that long talking about?!?!"

"Uh…" He glanced at me again before hiding his eyes behind his mane.

"Great! I'm the worst subject you coulda come up with!! I have a distinct feeling Hern sees me as a threat." I growled. Why were boys so clueless? "Look, I'll talk to him then."

"Wot?!" Elric was on his feet, a fistful of weeds dangling from his hands, "Yeh _can't_!!"  
"Don't worry! It'll just be a talk. Believe it or not, I'm pretty good at getting out answers I want without actually giving my intentions away." Elric didn't look convinced but he was curious enough to allow it.

"Alright…" He sighed, I beamed and told him it'd be a piece of cake. Embarrassed, the conversation left the subjects of our companions to simpler topics, like the weather and types of harvest and edible plants this time of year you could find while traveling. It was all very informative and, feeling that our lives might come to rely on it, I paid my very best attention. By the time we finished weeding, the sun was high in the sky and I could list and describe almost every type of pletoca found at this time of the year. Pletoca were types of nutritious roots and berries used in first aid, so you can see why I thought it'd be a good thing to know.

As Elric and I dragged the giant baskets filled with weeds back to the compost, I thought I saw Hiei and Hern chopping lumber across the fields. Perplexed, I asked Elric, "Did you say you can't chop wood?"

"Ah? Yea, I'm not tat strong I am." Elric shrugged and dumped his basket onto the large pile of fertile earth, I fought against the urge to scrunch up my nose or gag. "I dun tink I can even lift the axe!" He laughed, I looked around, distracted, to see if I could spot Hiei's small form over near Hern. I had the impression that Elric was stronger than Hiei and if he couldn't even lift an axe, then how was Hiei…? "Yeh ok?"

"Huh? Oh yeah!" I shook my head and dumped my half of the weeds onto the pile. Pushing Hiei's bizarre new strength increase from my mind, I asked, "So what other chores does Hern do?" I knew I didn't stand a chance of helping him with lumber, and if I wanted to talk to Hern it was key that I had some excuse, like assisting him.

"Well, he cooks he does." Elric mused. Great. There had to be something else! "'N he feeds teh animals sometimes, we usually switch on tat." Bingo.

Deciding that cooking was out of the question, I asked Elric about feeding the animals and found myself in the stable not even half an hour later. Up close, the lizard's pelts seemed to shimmer into different shades of blue and green only making the appearance of a soft teal blue from afar. Their eyes were deep, amber yellow and a proud jaw bone uplifted their features. Their long necks gave way to large flaps of skin underneath; I wondered just what they might be for. I nearly melted when one caught my eye, trying to answer the unspoken question.

"They're _beautiful_!" I gasped and looked at Hern who was gazing affectionately at the creatures.

"They are, aren't they?" His deep calm voice seemed to rumble with hidden laughter. "Do want to pet one?"

"W-would they be ok with that?" I asked hesitantly. I mean, I wouldn't want to get petted by some stranger!

Hern laughed. "Sure they would, I'll show you how to do it."

He opened the wooden gate and went into the enclosure of the larger one, bowed slightly, and waited. To my astonishment, the lizard sat up on it's hind legs and puffed out the large flap of skin twice, flashing fantastic colors before settling back down; watching Hern mischievously. Hern laughed and stroked it's neck and indicated for me to try with the other one. "Now, if she doesn't give you the ok, then just sit down and bow your head, ok?"

"Ok…" I muttered, wondering if the ok was that dazzling display the (assumed) male gave Hern. Hesitantly, I opened up the gate and went in, bowed and waited. The female watched me for a few seconds, tongue clicking loosely. I was just about to sit down when she sat up onto her heels, expanded her neck flap and, get this, _cawed_. It was really loud and hurt my ears, but I couldn't cover them for I was too blinded by the crazy light patterns flickering across her neck. It was like a living light show, her cry started to wane and wax like the moon, and the dazzling patterns seemed to follow. Transfixed, I watched her for what felt like forever, my nerves had completely dissolved by the time she settled back down on both her legs, watching me with those eyes. Without a thought, I gently reached out and felt her neck; softer than it appeared but still rough like armor. She was such a peculiar little thing.

Another strange noise burst from her and she circled me once, twice, three times quickly, her tail accidentally knocked me over. The ground wasn't too hard but I was more focused one the hot, sticky entity assaulting my face. Tongue. That bizarre little clicking she made earlier was once again on her lips, bobbing her head as she snuggled up against me. I laughed and hugged her back, she cuddled deeper into my arms.

"Well, I'll be…" Hern muttered, scratching the back of his head. "Guess that's a nymph for you."

"What do you mean?" An image of a bag of black truffles and roots flashed through my mind. I looked at the lizard thing, sighed, and went to one of the shelves lining the stable. I pointed to the bag I found and asked, "Feed her this?"

"That's what I mean." Hern sighed and helped me get the large back from the shelf, handing it to me with a, "Yeah."

I poured the mixture into the feeding troughs and looked around for a can of polish and a rag. "Is she telepathic?" I asked, wondering how I knew how to do this.

"Only to a limited few." Hern gave me the polish raising an eyebrow and went over to the male with his own can, "I can't believe she'd warm up to you so fast. She's usually the problem child. Name's Illia by the way."

I thought I heard a little snort from Illia as he said this and felt a slight compression over my heart. Why would Hern tell me to pet the more aggressive of the two? "You don't like me." I sighed. True, Hern was nice and kind, but he seemed to hold a slight bit of resentment towards me.

Hern stiffened slightly and concentrated hard on the male. "Why do you say that?" He asked nonchalantly.

"Just a feeling…" I muttered, then added sneakily, "I'm not interested in Elric by the way."

I gauged his reaction; his eyes widened slightly, face reddening and he went to work on the male's legs so I couldn't see him anymore. I sighed and worked on the female's belly, especially around the joints; she liked it there best. "Well I could tell that much from this morning…" Hern kept a calm surface, but I felt a heated resentment underneath it. Sigh. I was bound to be the 'other woman' or at least thought to be at some time in my life. I tried to keep my voice neutral but I couldn't help laughing. Hern asked me what was so funny.

"No. Nothing…" I giggled, "Just, Hiei hates my guts. We're defiantly not together or whatever, we just keep getting caught in these weird ass situations that are kinda my fault…" I added that last part sheepishly. Hern, surprised, lost all his edge and asked genuinely, "So you two aren't together?" I thought caught a little bit of sympathy in his words and that annoyed me.

"Look Hern. We're strictly friends. Sure he's cute and all but I know for a fact that Hiei _doesn't_ think of me like that. Besides, even if I wanted to and I _don't_, I can't afford to think of that cuz I know it's not gunna happen and it would ruin our friendship." I was really annoyed that I had to keep explaining it because I knew that the more I did, the more I would question it and the more likely it was that I might find unwanted feelings. That's just wrong. Like, so epically wrong I shant even attempt to explain how wrong it is because it's just that wrong. Grawr! I'm confusing myself! Focus… Hern is speaking…

"Ah… it seems I may have misjudged you…" He says it quietly, like he doesn't realize he said it. With a little more volume, he adds, almost ruefully, "I know what that's like."

Wait. I was rambling. Crap, I'm supposed to be on a mission!!! What is he talking about again?! "What do you mean?" Feeble, yes but at least it's an innocent enough question.

"It's… complicated…" Hern sighs. He's finished polishing the male and I realize I'm done with Illia. I follow him to put the stuff away and watch him as he leans against the wall, arms crossed. He's thinking about whether he trusts me with this or not, I can tell. I cast through my head for something that might be equally embarrassing to admit. It's for Elric dammit! If I wanna know something I gotta tell something in return.

"I hate carriages." I blush a little. Knowing I can't back down since I'm doing this for a friend, I cross my arms, swallow my pride and allow my bangs to obscure my flushed face. "I hate any kind of transportation really. Anything that takes my feet off the ground is…" I cast about for a word, "…a concern… I just can't handle my feet anywhere but the ground. I never really learned to swim because of it, so I only bathe or swim in water I can stand in. Just… don't tell anyone… I… it's already difficult and…" Hern places a large, comforting hand atop my head and ruffles my hair, halting my words. I look up at him; he's smiling.

"Now I get why he's so fond of you…" Hern muses and then sighs. "It's just… the person I have… feelings for… well… I don't exactly think I'm their type."

"Why not?" I ask, Hern looks at me long and hard for a minute before he crosses his arms again and demands, eyes fixated straight ahead, "If I tell you, you promise me you won't tell anyone?"

Oh crap… but fine. "Yes." I say solemnly and hold my pinky finger up to him, "So long as you keep my secret."

Hern smiles and, perplexed, asks what he's to do with my pinky. I laugh, "It's a pinky promise."

With a small smile, he interlocks his pinky with mine and I chant, "Pinky Promise, if you lie, I will make you swallow 1000 needles. I break the pinky connection!*" We pulled our fingers apart and I beamed up at Hern, "It's a promise."

Hern laughed, "Alright, I guess I can't argue with that logic." He sat down and gestured for me to do the same, which I did. We then sat close to each other, shoulders slightly hunched in secrecy, like a pair of gossiping school children. "Truth be told… it's Elric…" _I knew it!!_ "The problem is… well… I'm pretty sure he's only interested in women. I've tried to hide it but it's getting… hard…" _Haha… was that a pun? Wait!! This isn't funny! Focus!_ Hern continued, oblivious to my internal struggle, "I know it's wrong to feel like this… he's a friend and it would never work…" "_THAT'S NOT TRUE!!!_" I shout, jumping to my feet before I recognize the action. Flustered, I cover my mouth but Hern just waves it off. "It's ok."

"But it's _not_!!" I don't care anymore, I have to fix this, "Do you know for a fact that Elric only likes girls?"

"Uh… well I'm pretty-"

"Do you _know_?!?!" I persist.

"Well… no…"

"Does he have a lover?!?!"

"No…"

"Damn right he doesn't!!! So why the hell should gender matter!?!? You love him don't you!?"

"Midori… I don't think you understand… It's tougher than that…"

"And what's so hard about it!?!? Listen Hern, if you don't tell him, you'll spend your life wondering. What if he likes you back!?! What if he loves you and he's just as shy as you are!?"

Hern laughs, "I appreciate trying to cheer me up lass really I do but… I just couldn't…"

I'm annoyed. I mean, _Oh my fucking god they feel the same!!!_ And they're _not_ a couple yet!??! Jebus! How hard is it to tell someone you love them!?! But I know it's not my place to tell Hern that Elric loves him and I promised Hern so… _I'll just have to fix this!!_

Just as luck would have it, Hiei walks into the barn with an arrogant, annoyed air, wiping all strategies from my mind. Hiei says something but I'm spacing out. I'm ignoring him, I'm still mad from this morning. My eyes land on his hands and my face explodes into heat. _He touched me with that…_I try to shake the thought from my head. Why did I think of that? I don't care, so why am I flustered? It was just an accident, it doesn't change anything. Crap. Hiei's looking all expectant, I wasn't listening.

"Wat…?" His eyes harden at my lack of response and I feel angry for no reason. Technically, this is all his fault, isn't it?

"The elf wants you two." He repeats jabbing his thumb in the direction of the house, "It's time to eat, not that I care if you starve." I'm about to scold him for acting like that but he's already gone.

"_Ooooh! _He makes me so mad!!!" I seethe, Hern chuckles.

"Not into him, eh?" He asks, exiting the stable.

"Ignoring that." I growl and smack his arm playfully, "Don't think you've escaped. We finish this conversation tonight."

Hern looks bemused. "Alright, when?"

"By the spring after dinner, I'll do the dishes so you'll only have to wait a minute or two."

Hern sighs and agrees. _Perfect_.

After that, we pass through a rather uneventful lunch. It's pretty nice how close I feel to everyone now. After we eat, Hern and Elric tell us that, because the last harvest was yesterday, there's nothing left to do for the day. Excited, I go off to explore the farm. I get so caught up in all the beautiful sights that I nearly forget to engage phase two. I track down Hiei and demand that, whenever I find him, he interrupt conversation between Elric and me no less than five minutes after we start talking. Hiei, the oh so logical, demands what excuse he's supposed to use, and I tell him to make up some shit about training me. Very uncharacteristically, he just agrees, leaving me to hunt down Elric. I spend over an hour trying to find him before I catch the little bugger snoozing in a tree.

I called up to him but to no avail. Frustrated, I was about to climb up myself when I noticed his tail hanging down not too far out of reach. With a deep breath, I crouched down and, on the exhale, sprung up as high as I could and latched onto the little bugger. Elric yelped and fell out of the tree with a painful thud next to me not even a second later.

"Wot'cha do tat fer?!?!" Elric yelled, jumping to his feet and rubbing his tail.

"Sorry." I shrugged and, excited asked, "_Guess what_?!!?"

"Urg… me poor tail…"

"Not that!!" I sighed, annoyed. "Now guess what!!" I'm planning to get off topic so I want him to have the opportunity to lead me astray with a guess, making it seem like it was his idea, not mine.

"Illia's finally pregnant?" Elric asks, confused. Well that got me off topic.

"Wait. You're trying to impregnate her?" I ask.

"Uh, no. She's immortal she is, thar'd be no point but yeh said guess wot." Elric rubbed his eyes and yawned, letting his ear droop with sleep.

"She's immortal!?!?"

"No more questions till yeh get me up thar." He says grumpily and holds up an arm.

"Fine." I laugh and pull him up. "But she's really immortal?!"

"Unless yeh try teh kill her but why'd 'nyone want teh do tat?"

"That's so cool…" I think back to the light show thing and say, "Wait! Hold the phone!"

"Wot's a phone?" Elric asks, confused.

"Oh, it's a handheld device you can use to talk to people over distance and wait! Never mind that! What the heck was up with the glowing chest thing?! It was so cool!!"

"Tat's how she tells ifin yer a danger o' not. It's how teh read yer mind er sumthin… Hern understands it betta I tink…"

"Wait, she read my mind!?!?"

"Is tat o' problem?"

"I don't know how to feel about that? Question mark?" I ask myself, nod and repeat it. "Yeah. I really _don't_ know how to feel about that."

"Not tat I don't like talking teh yeh lass, but do yeh have a reason fer pullen me outta tat there tree?"

"Oh yeah!! It's about Hern!!" I say with mock excitement. It's key to bait Elric into coming too.

"Yeah?!" His ears perk up, gold orbs shimmering.

"Now I can't tell you all the details but-"

"_Midori!!!_" Hiei's bellow cuts me off at the perfect interval.

"Crap." I pretend to be upset just as Hiei's form appears in front of us to scold me.

"Where the hell were you?" He asks furiously, "Does 'training' ring any bells in that empty little head of yours?"

_Wow he's a good actor_… Good enough to make me wanna punch him. "Um… I was just coming?"

"Of course you were." Hiei glares, his eyes flashing to Elric like he's to blame, and then he turns around, walking briskly away.

I quickly turn around and tell Elric, "We'll finish this later. Meet me by the spring after dinner."

"'kay." Elric nods just as Hiei yells back furiously, "_Well_?!?! Are you coming?!"

"Coming!!!" I shout back, offer Elric an apologetic smile, and race after Hiei.

We're far from sight when I finally burst out laughing and give Hiei a slap on the back, "Jeez! Where the hell did that acting skill come from!?"

"I hope you realize that you have some explaining to do after our training." Hiei says coolly, avoiding my gaze. _He's probably just irritated… _

"Yeah… I guess you're right… Wait." I stop walking. "What training?"

Hiei doesn't even hesitate, just keeps on moving, forcing me to follow. "You don't honestly think that was all acting do you? You better believe I've had enough of your ridiculous, potentially deadly antics and I'm about to do something about it."

"And by 'do something about it' you mean pretend you did and call it even, riiiiight?"

"No. You defiantly need training. This morning convinced me. You'll probably kill us without it." My face flushed and I said cheekily, "So, are you saying my boobs are too big and that's why your making me train or are you gonna tell me what the hell is with your PMSing?"

Hiei growled and didn't say anymore. No. He decided to speak with 'action' and that meant one day of hell for me. He wouldn't say what the hell I was training for, just that I needed preliminary training before core. Whatever the hell that means. The little sadist sent me running around the farm for like, two fricking hours before making me spar with him. Endlessly! And this time, I didn't have any elements of surprise and he made it clear that I wasn't allowed to use anything other than basic hand to hand combat. This meant no pressure points or level 5 tackles, just a lot of what felt like powerful fancy dance moves that I failed at. Hiei totally tore off my ass and flung it back at me on a fucking diamond encrusted platinum platter, if you'll pardon the French.

I swear to god, if their wasn't an immense amount of resentment and pride keeping me from asking, Hiei would've had to drag me back to the house. As soon as we got to the table, I collapsed into a chair and remained immobile. Elric took the chair next to mine and, unhelpfully, told me he was glad Hiei wasn't training him. Hiei, who sat across from me, had scoffed at this comment and said some shit about me being useless and I responded with a kick to his shin that I wished would've hit his balls.

I very nearly wanted to marry dinner it was so orgasmically good after Hiei's hellish boot camp but then again it could've just been Hern's cooking. Conversation was calm and inviting, like a big family, and I learned a couple interesting facts about the world Hiei and I were in. Like the fact that when I insulted Hiei in English and he actually understood what I said was due to some big ass law thing passed like eighty years ago to prevent confusion of dialect.

"Thousands of innocent lives were lost in the Great War all because the translators couldn't properly understand the meaning of the General Iranzl's letter (see some words like peace for certain cultures only mean friendly warfare to others) and so, to prevent the waste of lives in the future, the elves fabricated a great magik to prevent future misunderstandings." Is how Hern explained it. I asked how the elves could possibly do such a thing and he mentioned some tree of knowledge that they kept but told me that the true details were unknown by any creature but the elves. I shot Elric a look at that point but he, not even sure how to 'sing' plants, refused to comment and instead insisted that I speak English for the rest of the meal because, in his words, 'it be quite a riot it tis.'

I also learned that my hair cost a pretty penny.

"Yeh see, it's said tat _tat_ color is on'y born to nymphs on the blue moon during teh harvest 'n tat don't happen too often." Elric had explained. This didn't make sense, I mean, what other colors could there be to make blondes so rare? When I voiced this, Hern had laughed and said, "I think you've been underground too long."

Annoyed, I reminded Elric that he still had to explain that term to me. "It's wot teh surface folk use to refer to the elven-nymph disagreement. Yeh probably dun remember teh history cuz it's probably a sore spot fer yeh."

"Um…?" I wanted to ask what that hell he meant but Hiei had silenced me by asking where a library could be found. I would've been excited if Hiei hadn't voiced the question to suggest that we'd leave tomorrow. That made me sadface but Hern was helpful none the less.

"In Argurtal. It's only a three day ride from here and it's one of the biggest port cities." He'd told us.

All the new information was fascinating and confusing but, with Hiei's promise of a library visit in the future, I managed to quell many 'suspicious' questions. After this was said and done, dinner seemed to pass much too quickly and I silently cursed myself that I'd offered to do the dishes. I was especially bummed since I got stuck with Hiei again (can you say awkward? We didn't even talk), but that thought, along with all my weariness, slipped away as soon as Hern disappeared out the door with a little wink at me. Smiling to myself, I counted out two minutes before Elric left too. It was all I could do not to break the plates in my hurry to finish cleaning before I burst out the door barely even ten minutes later with Hiei glaring curious daggers into my back.

I know, I know. I'm a naughty, nosy little girl who shouldn't butt into other people's business. But come on!! I want to make sure that Hern and Elric get together!!

I silently crept along the moonlit dirt path behind the house that led to the little clearing directly behind the hot spring. I kept low to the ground as I neared and stuck close to the bushes. I nearly blew my cover with a scream when I bumped into another Eiffiw. Apparently, they grew on the bushes, but as Elric had said, harvest was over, and the little bugger was too busy sleeping to bite me. Thank god for that. Blowing out a quick sigh, I peered through the bushes to find Elric and Hern already deep in conversation. Annoyed that I'd missed some of it, I strained my ears until their conversation came into focus.

"So… you were gunna meet Midori too…" Elric was saying. _Abort mission!! Abort!!_ Crap! Don't talk about that!! _Use_ the moment! I really did _not_ need them to know of my meddling ways, though they probably already did.

Hern was chuckling softly and I peered through the hedges to see his hands on his hips. Elric, next to him, was blushing and seemed rather nervous, probably figuring that I'd hooked up the perfect chance for him to confess. Which I did… Bwahaha…

"That little she-devil…" Hern muttered fondly (Wait… She-devil? Excuse me? I _know_ you're not talking about _this_ cute little blonde), "It looks like she set us up…" Nuez! Don't focus on that!

"Yeah…" Elric was fiddling with his tail and seemed to be trying to give himself an Indian rug burn. Ow…

"And I'm guessing for the same reason…" Hern seemed to be taking this well… Stop piecing things together!! You'll ruin my hard work!! Blast the smart people! Blast them!

"Hern… look I… well…" Elric looked like he was ready to cry he was so red in the face. Aww! So cute… No wait! I don't want him embarrassed. Blast you Hern, being all-knowing like fricking Jebus and… wait…

"Come here you." Hern gently tilted Elric's face up towards him and whispered in probably one of the most husky, alluring voice I've ever heard. "If she set this up, then we probably both want this…"

Elric's golden eyes widened and then, half lidded, he leaned in until there was barely an inch between the two of them and muttered, "Yah…"

That was the only response Hern needed to close the distance; their lips meeting in shy passion. It couldn't have been more perfect, only a demure moon (and annoying friend) as witness to the act. As the two pulled further into the kiss, Hern's hands wrapped securely around Elric's waist, while the little elf stood onto the tips of his toes and draped his arms around the giant's neck.

_Squeeeeee~!!!!_ Yes!!! Finally!! Oh… oh fuck fiddles… Did that actually leave my mouth?!!? Blast my hyperactivity!! In my excitement I seemed to have jumped up out of the bushes with a very loud "YES!!!" Fuck. My. Life.

Now the new couple had pulled apart and were looking at me with questionable looks.

"I was wondering when you'd show up…" The blue haired giant laughed, looking highly amused.

Seconds later, the elf let out his own loud guffaw, placed his hands on his hips and demanded, "Why yeh little troublemaker! Wot deh yeh tink yer doin?"

"Um… I was reading the Eiffiws a bedtime story? Question mark?" I offered meekly, fiddling with that back of my neck with a nervous laugh.

"So you _weren't_ spying on us?" Hern asked.

"And yeh _dehn't _set tis up 'ere?" Elric piped up, pointing between the two of them.

"Who me!? Nuuuuu! Of course not!!" Cue nervous neck fiddling and laugh. I falsed a look at my wrist and said, "Well! Look at the time! I'd better be going…"

"Oh no yeh dun!!" Before I could protest, all the featherweight fury of Elric had pounced like a cat and landed straight on top of me with a victorious cry. I squealed as he rained down his 'punishment'.

"No! Stop!!" I gasped between laughs as he viciously tickled me, "I can't _breathe_!!"

This didn't help because he tickled me _harder_, turning me blue in the face. I could hear Hern laughing over Elric's mirth and hear him recite some sort of saying, "You know what they say…" His violet eyes glinted mischievously and I suddenly found myself in his arms headed towards the spring… Realizing his intentions I started squirming but he and Elric only laughed and tossed me in just as the statement was finished, "The last drops' the hardest to catch."

"Eek!!!" I squealed in displeasure as water crashed down around me and my back stung from a belly flop. Or is it a back flop? I grabbed onto one of the tall, slippery stones and resurfaced, hacking out water and the question, "Who says _that_?!"

"Tat would be us lass." Elric laughed, squatting down near the edge. I couldn't help it, it was too perfect. I grabbed onto his tail and yanked him in which cause him to, in order to try and prevent himself from falling in, grab onto Hern. As a result, both of them came tumbling into the water. Two birds, one stone my friends.

"Ack!" Red mane shaking a mile a minute, Elric attempted to dislodge some water from his ears as I started laughing hysterically.

"You know what they say," I mimed, "Don't mess with the best!"

"Oh really now!?" I hadn't anticipated a giant counter attack, especially from behind, and, before I could scramble away, Hern caught me in a headlock and gave me a monster noogie.

I responded with and attempt to do the same, which failed, so I just splashed water up his nose.

"Aw tat tears it!" Elric pounced on me again, ready for a second helping, and Hern caught our rambunctious forms and dunked the both of us.

Thus, this is how I completely and utterly ruined the moment. Instead of watching my two new friends spend a serene night together, I'd somehow managed to engage the three of us in an all out water war. By the time we'd all trekked back to the house we were shivering and sneezing.

"Ah yer a piece o' work yeh are!" Elric growled with an affectionate towel noogie to help me dry off.

"She sure is…" Hern chuckled dumping a towel onto the elf and mimicking his action then went to dry himself off.

"I was just curious…" I muttered indignantly and both of them burst out laughing.

"Lucky for us she is!" Hern laughed and realizing what he meant by that, as tonight probably wouldn't have happened without my brand of curiosity, I couldn't help but follow suit.

We were in the middle of our hearty guffaws when a sleepy and annoyed Hiei called with sarcasm, "Am I missing something or is night the time you're supposed to shut up and sleep?"

His scowling little face appeared in the doorway seconds later and we all held our laughs with baited breath as Hiei peered around and took in our sopping wet forms. With a soft sigh, he pinched the bridge of his nose and asked, "Midori… what did you do?"

That only made us laugh harder.

_**Whoo!! Thus an uber long chappie hath ended!! Now since it's almost halloweeny, I tink you should all give me a treat; review!! Review you fools!! To quote stride gum; Review or we'll **__**find **__**you… :) Lol, oh and for the promise thing up there with the '*' just so you know, this is a reference to the Japanese pinky promise which is: **__**Yubikiri genman, uso tsuitara hari senbon nomasu. Yubi kitta! **__**What Midori says is simply a rough English translation. Now to answer mah loyal reviewers!!! (See what awesome perks you get if you comment?) Oh and sadface, not one of you got my awesome referencing!! Ok, long long ago, when mini skirts were still skirts and pigs had yet to advance to the sky, I had called this story 'Ah lazyness' but then the future arrived!! **__**Whoooo~!!**__** And, as times changed, so did the title and tada! We get old timey references!! My stories are still saved under ah lazyness though…**_

**Bhel-Elryss: Answer to that modesty thing? No, not at all… XD Haha, no, Bloom's strong point isn't writing, it lays in pirate-y lingo while swingin a blade n' lookin hott lolz. Don't hold you're breath!!! I couldn't handle if another one of you 'vanished' on me!!!!! Nuuuuuuuez!!! And yes all shall be explained at the library!!! (insert dramatic music here)**

**99bottles_of_rum: Lol, ur name cracks me up. As for reading **_**everything**_**!?! I'm incredibly flattered and must say it's kinda sad you had that much free time but, seeing as I have no life, I'm not exactly one to talk. Plus, I do that all the time too. XD This is true, hills are not the stuff of hidin… hm… I must ponder this subject now… Lol and I'm glad you like my liquid-y writing style, you make me happah!! XD**

**Valinor's Twilight: I'm so glad everyone likes Elric and Hern!! Sqee~!! I wanted a little refresher from all the doom and gloom so I was like, romance? But Hiei and Midori's relationship hasn't exactly progressed that way (if it ever does) so I, wantin romances anyway, fixed it!! Bwahaha!! The power of god is in my keyboard!! **


	25. I'd tap that

"_We're in such deep shit… You binky breath!! Why didn't you say anything about this!?!?" A young boy was pacing back and forth in front of a large oak desk inside a spacious, ornately decorated office. Behind the desk stood a tall chair, concealing the speaker who answered the boy._

"_It's not as if I knew until you came here Yuusuke… I figured she was still out of my realm of reach." The speaker sighed as he addressed the boy named Yuusuke. An inkling of familiarity rose from the scene, surrounding it with confused fog making the image seem as if it were under murky water. _

"_If yeh knew this coulda happened, why the hell should this realm thing matter?!?!" The boy was furious, running his fingers through slick black hair so many times it gave one the impression a handful of hair would fall out with the rigorous strokes at any minute. _

"_Please…" A sensible looking redhead walked into the frame of view, face obscured with ridiculous amounts of hair. "What will become of the them?"_

_The person in the chair spun around and fixed his eyes on the redhead with a severity so grave one could almost forget he was in the body of a child. "Botan will try and make a portal but… I assume the hunt has already begun…" _

"_But she's just a kid!!!" Another figure made themselves seen. This one was an immensely tall carrot-top. _

"_She may be a child, Kuwabara. But she isn't human. When you get there, you must be very cautious in approaching her," As if catching the disapproving vibes in the room, he added, "No matter how friendly or innocent she may seem."_

_The room warped strangely and, now empty, a red substance dripped from the walls. "You see?" A voice cackled, "Just like all the rest!! They don't care for you!! You're a freak!! You're a __danger__!!" _

_Blood gushed through the room, breaking out through the beautiful windows behind the desk and fell to the ground below which was covered in snow. As the snow changed into horrific hues, bodies seemed to form on the ice. "It's just like that time… __Weak!__… you couldn't do anything…" _

"_That's a lie!!!" A small choked voice seemed to stand up for itself; tiny hands shuddered in and out of focus. As if to respond to the foolishness, the hands began to elongate and the world became dangerously cold, red icicles forming in sickly rivers along the snow. The voice was choking back sobs now, attempting to convince themselves and, with a cry more foul and pained than any animal, shouted, "YOU'RE WRONG!!!" _

_Another voice rebounded throughout my head and I couldn't tell if it was for me or the child in the snow, "What a fun little dream you're having… I hope you don't mistake these false friends for reality. Remember, child, you have to wake up sometime…"_

_I tried to piece what it meant together, but the scene in front of me was fading fast as I was pulled towards the waking world. Someone had hit the fast forward button and I was quickly being dragged further and further away until the images got blurrier and blurrier until… _

I woke up with the terrible, sickly sweet smell of vomit in my mouth. Ignoring my body's cries against it, I shot out of bed only to find my legs asleep and tumbled to the floor, shaking.

"What are you doing?" The voice was right next to me; so close and unexpected that all I could do was shriek. It wasn't until a light flickered on that I realized it was Hiei who had spoken, eyes a careful mask void of emotion as he took in my form.

Startled and jumpy, I couldn't stop myself from shouting at him, "Nothing!" My voice came out shrill and panicked, the phrase '_you have to wake up sometime_…' flashing through my head and causing me to blurt the ridiculous sentence, "You're not a dream are you?!"

"What did you eat last night?" Red orbs narrowed menacingly and I blushed furiously when his gaze caught mine. What a stupid question!! I had been dreaming obviously and was just a little panicked. As the dim light flickered and I was drawn out of my half-conscious state, recognition of how I must've appeared flooded my face with color.

"No… it was stupid… Nevermind…" I muttered and moved to get up but my legs wouldn't respond. Hiei sighed irritably and sat up on his perch on the windowsill with a comment.

"I know I said we were leaving early morning, but the sun isn't up yet."

"Right… haha, sorry… just a weird dream…" I touched my brow gingerly to find a bead of sweat clinging to the hairs.

"About?" He persisted. I hesitated; should I tell him? Didn't it kinda involve him? At least the first part? I felt the need to tell him something, _anything_, but years of hiding feelings created an odd lump in my throat preventing me from speaking.

"I…it… it was nothing…" Was all I could come up with, I once again tried to get up but this time it wasn't my faulty legs that stopped me. I hadn't even noticed Hiei come to sit by me. He had grabbed my wrist and was staring deep into my eyes making it impossible to look away. Those wide ruby gems seemed to be searching for something to explain my behavior but as soon as I thought I saw a flash behind the bandage covering his forehead, I yanked my arm away and decided I imagined the concern in his eyes. I was just his ticket home, he could care less what mental turmoil I went through as long as he got from point A to B. Anger welled in me and I said with more venom than I meant, "It's nothing that you'd care about anyway. Don't worry, your precious transportation system hasn't changed one bit."

"Midori…" He spoke calmly and patiently and for once, I found myself wishing that I hadn't gained enough respect from him to remember my name. He took his hand off my wrist and instead let it drape gently atop mine, letting me know I was under no obligation to stay put.

"I…" I really did need to tell him at least the first half, if there was any truth to it. Something about 'the hunt' beginning sent shivers down my spine. I squeezed my eyes shut, summoning all my courage and opened my mouth to speak just when the door came crashing down.

"Everybody ok!?" Hern and Elric had burst through the door with panicked expressions and were looking all about the room before their eyes rested on us. I vaguely noticed that Elric was holding what resembled a bow and arrow while Hern held what looked like a rather large club, I also took into account that Hiei had returned to the windowsill and was busy acting uninterested. They both straightened up out of their battle stances a minute later and Elric explained as he rushed over and squatted by my side,

"We heard a scream lass, yeh al'ight now are yeh?" As Elric looked me over quickly I thought I saw the both of them throw a furtive glance towards Hiei and I gently pushed away my worried elven friend with a prickle of resentment.

"I'm fine." I mumbled and offered them a small smile, "I just had one hell of a dream, that's all." I looked at the club resting on Hern's shoulder and asked, "And what would that be for?"

"Oh… uh, nothing…" He blushed slightly, dropped his club and walked over to the small bed I'd fallen out of and sat down. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I'm good…" Trying to avoid their prying eyes and to lighten the mood I asked, "So, is it just me, or did you two come from the same room? Are you already at that level?"

"M-midori!!" Elric blushed and took a swipe at me; I laughed and dashed out of the room with said carrot-top scrambling after me with curses while Hern's loud, booming laugh followed us down the stairs.

_Well that answers that… yeesh…_I though critically to myself once I'd reached the safety of the stables. Illia was more than happy to hide me and it seems that the thought of looking there never occurred to the flustered elf. I decided to nap away the last few hours of night but was plagued with strange images, the most vivid of which pictured two figures atop of possibly a horse or something of the like. They seemed to be hurrying somewhere but an unseen, malevolent force pursued them. The scene ended when an explosion flung the two figures from their saddled and onto the dense, forest floor.

I must've seen that image at least six times by the time the sun had finally risen over the horizon.

"Yeh look like crap lass…" Elric muttered sympathetically as I walked in the door. I pulled a piece of hay out of my hair and scowled.

"Thanks Elric, that's what every girl wants to hear first thing in the morning." I growled sarcastically and plopped down into a chair.

"Well I dun mean-" "Oh you know he didn't mean it like that." Hern cut in, giving me a quick glance over his shoulder before returning his gaze to the frying pan. "You're pretty as a rose Midori but he's right that you don't look well."

"Well maybe he should blame himself for that; _he_ was the one who chased me out of the house at an unholy hour."

"But yeh were teh one who 'ad teh go 'n crack a joke like tat!" Elric blushed furiously when I asked if that joke had any meaning and Hern had to restrain him.

"Honestly, you two are like imps…" Hern sighed and I stuck my tongue out at him. He laughed and told me to make trouble somewhere else for a little while so I went to find Hiei.

I found him up in our room, packing the provisions Elric and Hern had spared for us. It wasn't much but it was defiantly more than we had and vastly appreciated. I walked over and sat down next to him, when he didn't respond, I poked his belly.

"What?" He caught my hand and held it up giving me an exasperated expression. "I'm busy, why don't you go harass someone else?"

"Cause Elric still wants to kill me." I sighed, smiling to myself.

"Maybe you shouldn't have implied that he and the giant are sleeping together?" He asked.

"Yeah…" I rolled an opal apple-like fruit between my hands and then stopped suddenly. "Wait a ticket… define '_sleeping together'_."

"You're such a nuisance. Obviously it refers to mating." Hiei growled in annoyance and took the apple away from me, setting it down next to an array of bandages.

"Ah ha!!" I slammed my hands on the floor causing him to freeze shortly and give me a weird look but I continued with my discovery anyway. "So you _do_ know what sex is!"

"And why wouldn't I?" He challenged. I knitted my eyebrows together in confusion.

"Uh… when we were with Yuu-chan…" I trailed off not exactly understanding why he didn't pick up on all the innuendos. The apple thing, which Hiei was holding, randomly combusted and I gave off a little shriek as I ducked to avoid flaming partials.

"_That's_ what you idiots were going on about?!?" He seethed, making me feel small and insignificant.

"Yeah?" And then it hit me. Obviously, Hiei had no idea what Harry Potter and birds and bees have to do with sex because he's not _human_. Meaning, he never experienced sex ed or any of the racy jokes teens came up with. Ohhhhhh… I raised my eyebrow and told him seriously, "When we get back, you better tell the guys you know how to put it in, otherwise you'll lose _major_ street credit."

"Because of you!!" Hiei, pissed off, was on his feet yelling after me just as I ran out the door, shielding myself from more random flaming items.

Elric was waiting at the bottom of the stairs and shook his head when I emerged. "Yeh really dun know 'nyting bout boundaries, do yeh?"

"Nope." I smiled, "So what's Hern got? I'm starving?"

With a roll of his eyes, we both went into the kitchen. We helped Hern set the table and called up to Hiei before we all sat down to our last meal together. It went far too fast in my opinion, and it wasn't long before the lot of us were standing out side giving our goodbyes.

"Bye!! Thanks for everything!!!" I said cheerfully, hiking the backpack Hiei'd given me further up on my shoulders. I was the official first aid pack mule and Hiei had food. Somehow, I suspected I got what I got because it was harder to destroy…

"Jeez lass, is tat ever backwards!" Elric wrapped an arm around Hern's waist and gave him a squeeze.

"We should be thanking you!" Hern's violet eyes twinkled as he said this and Elric and he caught eyes briefly in agreement.

"For squirting water up your noses?" I asked, dumfounded as to why they'd thank me. I ruined the moment, shouldn't they be mad? I would.

"Ah come 'er lass, I'm gunna miss that sunny lil head o' yers!" Elric pounced at me and my mock innocence and put me in a head lock, giving me a quick noogie before he hugged me. Just before he pulled back, he whispered, "If 'iei gives yeh 'ny trouble yeh tell us al'ight?"

I shoved him back with a laugh and stuck my tongue out at him giving Hern ample opportunity to ruffle my hair and shove a hat on me.

"Can't have those locks of yours getting you in trouble." He laughed and gave me a hug too.

"Not that she needs the help." Hiei mumbled and Elric gave him a hearty thump on the back.

"Tat's true it tis!" I was surprised to see the little yokai not only take the elf's affection but engage in a quick whisper exchange. Confused, I ignored their conversation and turned to Hern.

"So what did we learn about assuming things?" I fake scolded him and he gave me a playful punch to the shoulder.

"You really are a piece of work! And you _better_ come back to visit, you hear?" His violet eyes locked with mine with the utmost seriousness for a minute before we burst out laughing.

"Of course I'd _never_ see you again." I said sarcastically and gave him a quick rap to the shoulder.

"Ah, just making sure you." His eyes crinkled as he smiled at me and he said, "Really, lass, we do own you one."

"'Course we do!" I was surprised to see Elric was done talking with Hiei and felt that it was time to go. With a smile and a wave, I turned and ran to catch up with Hiei, who had already started walking.

"Don't you forget about us now!!" Hern called.

"We won't!!!" I promised, waving ecstatically just as Elric called, "Dun yeh dare forget wot I said 'iei!!"

Hiei stiffened slightly and mumbled, "I'll try…" but it sounded to me like he meant he'd try to forget, not remember. Curious, I caught up with him, asking just as Elric and Hern vanished from sight, "What'd Elric say to you?"

"Nothing." He brushed it off immediately, so of course, I _had_ to know.

"Tell me." I caught a hold of his cloak and gave persistent tug.

"No." He yanked his arm away from me and avoided eye contact. Never the less, I tried again.

"Please?"

"No."

"Pleeeeeeease?"

"Hn." This calls for drastic measures, I'll use _that_.

"I love you?" This time latched onto his arm and gave him my best puppy dog expression. Normally, anyone would be putty in my hands at that point but, with Hiei, it appears that was the wrong thing to do.

"G-get _off!!_" Hiei yelped very uncharacteristically, blushing furiously and shoved me off his arm. He then sped up his pace so that, no matter how hard I tried, there was at least twenty feet separating us as we walked. Now I feel all gross and untouchable… Sadface.

"I was kidding!!" I tried to explain but he wouldn't listen. Like a dejected dog, I let my head hang as I followed Hiei until he pitied me enough to shrink our distance to only ten feet. Figuring this was the best I'd get, I tried conversation but, when that failed, I went to my favorite past time (other than singing) and began to narrate our journey.

"And so, now wearing his very smexy black cloak, our hero Hiei heads off into the deep, dark woods with his spunky sidekick, Midori. Today the peppy little mascot is wearing very swave elven clothes at least two sizes too big…" I swung my arms to demonstrate the ridiculous over sizing and peaked up at Hiei, who was trying his hardest to ignore me, so I narrated, "Unfortunately for our favorite little helper, Hiei doesn't seem to want to give her the time of day. No, our hero has bigger fish to fry, pressing issues like 'Are we still going north?' and 'Where will we stay tonight?' And of course, that one persisting question all big time heroes must wonder, 'When will I get a chance to save another damsel?' Because god knows, Hiei needs to get laid. For what big time super hero doesn't enjoy a good screwing? Not to mention it seems people tend to be less of an asshole once properly smexed and what kind of hero would Hiei be if he was an asshole to all the potential customers?"

"I get your damn referencing now and if you don't want to learn what the inside of a tree looks like, I suggest you shut up now." That threat sucked ass. It was all like, 'Watch out, if you keep harassing me I'll add jelly to your peanut butter sandwich thus completely _changing_ the type of sandwich!!!' That's not evil. Unless, you have like, a severe allergy to jelly and they know it. Then that would be pretty messed up… Anyway, I could not dwell on the lamity of this threat for I had a story to narrate! Thus I continued,

"It seems our hero is angry at something, hand clenched into a powerful fist and face reddened with the rage of-"

"Midori…" Hiei seethed with enough violent undercurrents to let me know that the spunky sidekick was really cruising for a bruising.

"Okay, okay!!" I held my hands up in defense although he couldn't see it. "I'm just bored." I explained.

"Find a way to entertain yourself." His tone made it clear that he was _not_ one of those ways. Screw that idea.

Because whining kills time, I used my best nerve grating voice to bellyache, "Talk to _meeeeeeeee_!!"

If it weren't for the fact that this was real life, Hiei would have one of those oh-so-cool anime anger marks over his head. This made me want to persist more but a voice cut me off, _"Leave him be…"_

Ok, I know I'm a nerd but I couldn't help it. I screamed. I'd become so accustomed to the voice disappearing that I hadn't expected a return anytime soon. My dream flashed through my head and I shuddered and clutched my head.

"Whatever scheme you're testing out now won't work." Hiei called with a bored expression and snapped me out of my shock.

"Well I tried…" I laughed nervously and tried to decide if the voice was back or if I'd merely imagined it. _"It's not that I returned, per se… I'm a different being, you should know that much." _Voice has a point. Voice is not a calm female voice anymore, but male and arrogant sounding. _"I do have a name…" _And annoyed. Voice is annoyed. _"They said you were a few crumbs short of a breadstick…" _What the fuck kind comparison is that? Breadsticks are made of cardboard, duh. That's why they taste so shitty. _"Naira…try to focus." _There's that name again!! Who the fuck is this Naira all my hallucinations seem to think I am? _"No, don't stop walking, you'll only raise suspicion. Yes… that's it…" _I'm creeped out officially. I decide I don't like this new voice. _"Leon." _I deicide I don't like Leon and wonder if I should tell Hiei. Then again, shouldn't he be aware of Leon? Isn't he always up in my business?

"_Obviously mind reading would be a skill you have to concentrate on to yield any results and he seems quiet annoyed with you. I doubt he's listening." _While I dislike him, Leon makes a good point. Why would Hiei bother anyway? Besides, I already cussed him out for the last time he was in my head. _"Yes, that was quiet funny and I must thank you for saving my space. Two minds may be too strenuous for you yet…" _Um… question? Then isn't it dangerous that the female voice is unaccounted for? Any why the hell does he know I cussed Hiei out, he wasn't even there. _"Perhaps not, but I do have access to your memories back here. Which reminds me, I should probably unblock that incident Aerp decided to hide, she really is a pain…" _And who the fuck would that be? Wait, brain power… he said she; female voice? _"Perceptive. And yes, she was the female voice but I sincerely advise that you do not respond to her if she contacts you again." _Uh… personally I trust the female more than the male, I mean at least Aerp or whatever felt all kind and motherly and shit. _"Most likely because she is your mother but it would still be wise to- no, please don't stop walking." _

"I already fucking _have _a mom, you freak!" I shriek, annoyed that this new voice suddenly thinks he can say whatever he pleases and that I'm stupid enough to listen. My mom's voice is nothing like the female's and she quote on quote 'hates me with love'. _"Oh dear… you had to say that out loud, didn't you?" _He's right, I did. What the fuck? I'm so god damn confused right now and Hiei's giving me a weird look. I clear my throat and create an alibi, "You may indeed have a mother Knight Pipinpadolopsogous, but I am your _father!!!_" I change my voice and answer, "What?! No! _Nooooooo!!_"

"Did… What the hell is _wrong_ with you?!" Hiei's completely bewildered and I can't blame him. Why am I covering for Leon? That ain't right... Whatever, I must now explain the crazed actions of my even crazier motives.

"You told me to entertain myself." I defend with mock offense. Ruby eyes roll in exasperation and we continue to walk along the forested path. I want some answers and try to weasel them out of Leon but the little prat is too busy making stupid observations to tell me anything important. I have a distinct feeling that he's messing with me… _"And you would be right, m'dear." _See?! Fucking prat… At least he made time go by. The afternoon sun was high in the horizon and it seemed to me that we would be stopping at anytime for a lunch break. With this thought, I realized I was feeling a bit peckish, so I was about to go nag Hiei about it when Leon suddenly groaned, _"Great… they've finally caught up to us…" _

Um… that didn't sound good? Who was the 'they' he was referring to and why would they be trying to 'catch up' to us? I wanted answers dammit! And I was ready to throw the worst tantrum of my life if I didn't get them!!! _"That'll have to wait poppet. I suggest you duck." _

The comment caught me so off guard I couldn't help but voice it aloud. "Duck?" I asked myself and then shook my head, smiling to myself at that ridiculous idea. "Why would I want to…?" I trailed off just as I caught an odd obstruction in my peripheral vision. Was Leon referring to that odd, large… flaming… menacing… "OH MY GOD, _DUCK!!!!_"

"What is y-" What ever insult Hiei was ready to throw stopped midway in his throat just as I collided into him and possibly knocked the wind out of him. Yeah… breathing momentarily stopped… oops…

_BA-SHOOM!!!!_

I covered my head and squeezed my eyes shut, not even cognizant that I was still on top of Hiei. All I cared about was making sure that none of those big ass pieces of dirt and rock knocked me out. In a peculiar natural anomaly, Hiei and I were bathed in a plethora of various debris. I didn't open my eyes until a full minute after the shaking and raining of earth had stopped. That was about the time when Hiei shoved me off him and nearly knocked my wind out.

"Dammit woman! Give me some warning!!" I'm just 'woman' now? He'd snarled the phrase viciously to let me know how severe my demotion was. Sadface.

"Like I had any!!" I protested and got shakily to my feet. "What the fuck _is _that?"

Alright, for all those science geeks out there, I need a refresher. Is an incredibly large space rock thingy that plummets to earth and creates a ginormous crater a meteor, a meteorite or whatever the third thing is? Well whatever, all I know is that it looked like some scene out of a sci-fi movie. Smoke and debris still flitted around the mouth of the crater and there was a very ominous 'don't go in the basement!' feel about the whole thing. Except for the fact that I _wanted_ to go into the basement and you would too. Would you really turn your back on something like this and risk getten eaten? Fuck no! You'd try to head them off at the pass!! Carefully, I edged my way forward until I'm almost close enough to peer down. _"I wouldn't do that…"_

Fuck Leon! I nearly bit my tounge off he scared me so bad. _"Please, if you have any sanity left, you'll return to Hiei and leave this place." _Don't think I don't know how horror films go. There was no way I was going anywhere until I knew what the heck that meteor-thingy was. Then again, by horror film logic, I'd probably be eaten... hm...

"Midori… get back here." Hiei very slowly got to his feet and beckoned me over just as a hot gush of air blew back my hair with sweltering intensity. Despite the fact that my hair was on end and the heat was ludicrously unbearable, I was transfixed. I _had_ to know. I just had to! "Midori!" Aw screw his 'urgent' voice! I gotta know what the hell this little space ball is! And so I told him this, more or less.

"Get off my fucking back Hiei!! If I miss alien eggs or some other fantabulous shit because your balls decided to drop off, I'll fucking _kill_ you!" _"You're such a good friend…"_ Leon sighed sarcastically. Shut it… I'm gunna get a pet alien if it kills me, or at least some of that crazy sci-fi goop.

Ok, you wanna know why the blonde always goes first in horror movies? Cuz they wear cat ears and, by the law of similarity, not to mention old timey proverbs, curiosity has to kill the cat.

"Get out of that fucking hole you idiot!!" I'm probably in a very peculiar, upside down position at the bottom of the crater at this moment and Hiei doesn't seem too happy about that. Well it's not my fault the ground suddenly gave way. Ow, my everything... _"Of course!! Of course you go waltzing up to it!! What is this, playtime to you?!?! Don't you know what that is?!" _Um, no, _duh_. That's why I'm here trying to figure it out. Obviously. Jebus, some people… Both boys are now having a full scale panic attacks now that I've dusted myself off and, of my own superior will, decided to go poke the space rock. I flip Hiei off and mentally chalk that off as giving the bird to Leon too. He probably heard that, because now he finally shut the hell up.

Up close, the meteor is a big (bigger than Hern big its so fucking big), slimy brown blob; quivering ever so slightly. Naturally, I stick my hand in it, ignoring the, "What the hell is _wrong _with you!?!" along with some obnoxious rant from Hiei, who is positively seething by now but is smart enough to keep his distance.

"It's lumpy, oddly shaped and… _sticky_…" I wrinkle my nose at the observations and waggle my fingers through the thick substance. Huh, somehow it reminds me of pudding. With jello mix and random chunks in it.... I'm kinda hungry now...

"Well that's just _fantastic_!!! Now get your ass back up here!!" Uh oh, his knuckles have turned white he's gripping the rim of the crater so hard. Someone needs anger management…

"Jebus Hiei, you're such a pansy! This is _cool!_ I can't believe you'd-" My words freeze in my mouth. It felt like something just responded to me. Curious, I waggle my fingers again only to find the goop contract rapidly around my fingers in the same pattern before releasing.

Hiei, who probably thinks I halted my sentence due to some disaster, demands, "What happened?!"

"Hey… I bet I could make it move!" I murmur to myself. _"Oh by the Seven Holy Circles… Please tell me you're not going to do what I think you are." _I've decided that my companions are both officially pansies and, since I don't know what the hell Leon is talking about, I don't answer him. Instead, I try to engage the lump with some intense concentration. Something tells me that if I focus hard enough, I will get results. _"Oh. Oh of __course__ she does it anyway!! Why not!?"_ If Leon was a person, I can imagine him throwing his hands up in frustration. However, with that cryptic little comment of his, the whole of the blob surges forward violently and then falls back. I take back my hand and, fascinated, watch as thousands of bubbles appear on the surface, as though it were boiling. The ground begins to ascend and fall rapidly, like ripples in a pond and the image of the ground's movement makes me picture two people holding a cloth and vigorously shaking it up and down. The movement catches me off guard and, although I stick my hands out for support, knocks me off balance onto my rear. Seconds later, Hiei falls in a painful jumble next to me and I can't decided if that shriek was my imagination or truly originated from him.

"Whoa…" Somewhere inside me I'm completely terrified, while my mad genius side comments, "I've done it!! _Bwahaha_!!!"

"And just what the hell did you _do_!?!?" Yeah, Hiei is _not _a happy camper. The phrase 'if looks could kill' comes to mind and I shrug and honestly tell him, "I actually am not entirely sure myself. But I shall get back to you on that."

"_I've decided." _Leon comments unhelpfully as I watch an array of emotions cross Hiei's face. He's mad, no, he's confused… shocked… disoriented… back to being pissed… unbelieving. Finally deciding on an emotion, (disturbingly calm) he glares at me and says at the exact same time that Leon does,

"You're an _idiot_.**"**

**Oh ho? What iz thiz I see? A conflict arises!!! Again!! Ohz nues!! Once again, for the love of some guy whom I've never met named Pete; REVIEW!!! REVIEW blast you!!! **

**Bhel-Elryss: Never fear! The library is here!! In case you don't speak the lingo of muscled men in tights, that means you'll get your explanation in the library chapter, if Midori doesn't poke her nose in something that killz them all, that is. As for romance, **_**ohlala~!!**_** Lolz, glad I got your opinion there. Yes, they seem like a couple who'd have scarcely a dull moment, don't they? **

**99bottles_of_rum: Glad to hear you're fine with a rating upping and, as such, I have fixed the rating just for you!! (Cuz no one else bothered to comment on that so poo on them!) Lol, tat is an epic costume. It's good to know I have some ppl who don't care tho, no way to disappoint, eh? And I love when you ramble! XD**

**WerewolvesMoon: Um… thank you? Lolz, the all caps kinda freaked me out but I'm excited to hear you liked!!**

**HeartlessOnna: I know that, technically, you didn't review but god damn you deserve a comment!!! Lol, I just realized your name is Hearless Woman… lamo… Lol, I love it when I find random stories on ppl's favorite lists, don't you? XD**


	26. It's definitly YOUR fault

"Why is this _my_ fault?!" I shot back indignantly.

"Oh, I don't know… Maybe because you were the one who thought it would be fun to revive that _thing_!!" I can't understand why the hell Hiei was so mad. Sure, I revived it. So what? That makes everything _my_ fault? Oh… wait… _"Yes. It kinda does now doesn't it?" _Leon needs to go on a vacation to the sunny resort of _Shut-The-Hell-Up_. _"I'm beginning to like you less and less…_" The feeling is mutual… Wait! Time to focus, Hiei's standing up and yanking me to me feet. This can't be good.

Suddenly, a sticky, slimy something whizzed by me. It billowed past my ear and made my hair stand on end. Not even a second later, another slime ball was shot directly towards me again. Its oddly rounded, splotchy shape reminded me somewhat of a soccer ball and I felt myself longing to be on the field rather than just on the defensive. My hand shot up just as the thing neared and I yelled, "KEEP!!" It wasn't until the goop started to droop down my hands that I realized I just had a subconscious reaction to my soccer fantasy. This then led to the conclusion that there was a slimy, smelly, glue-like substance in my hand. "_Ewwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!_" I wrinkled my nose and shook my hands vigorously, oblivious to the imminent destructions a toppling tower of the blob would cause.

"_Move!!_" Hiei, deciding he didn't have any other way to get me out of the way, grabbed my icky, goo-covered hand and nearly took my arm out of my socket with his momentum. I was going to yell at him just when the thing slammed down and shook the earth, allowing me to process that I had almost been squashed. The force of the blow had been so strong that the ground rose in another strange elastic-like arch that sent both me and Hiei into the air and onto our backs several feet from the crater.

"Well that was fun…" I mumbled sarcastically, sitting up and touching a hand to my forehead. The only problem in this act was that it wasn't my hand that touched my forehead. "Um…" I looked down awkwardly at Hiei's hand in mine that, despite the fact he was sitting up too, had not removed its possessive grip on my own digits. "You can let go of my hand now."

Hiei stared at me for a second with an expression that seemed like he was trying to discern whether I was joking or not. This made me worried and I had a slight panic attack when he said in a scary (all most forced) calm voice, "I was going to tell you that."

"_This doth not bode well…" _Leon was right and I felt a knot in my stomach. The blob was sloshing about rapidly in its crater and I was sure the dam would burst any minute. Before that happened, I needed to figure out what was up. I quickly got to my feet at stretched to the sky, as I did so, Hiei let out a gasp of surprise and was yanked up by the arm. I found that the height in which I could reach my arm was now limited to how high he could stand on his toes. Next, I reached down and touched my toes; Hiei was forced to do the same, literally. As a final test, I stood back up, cast the little yokai a quick glance, and reached my arm out, which forced Hiei's arm against him until, annoyed, he yanked brutally forward and caught me so off guard that I fell in a painful jumble at his feet with my arm still awkwardly entangled in his.

"Don't tell me…" I muttered and pushed myself into sitting position, staring at the chain of flesh linking Hiei and I together. _"Looks like you're stuck together." _"Oh COME ON!!!" I shrieked, jumped to my feet and started furiously waggling my arm around every which way until Hiei finally kicked my legs out from under me and pinned me to the ground. He opened his mouth to say something, but it was at that particular moment that the blob managed to create enough momentum to carry it out of its hole and, when it did, created an earthquake that sent Hiei and me flying into the air.

"OH MY GOD!!! IMA GUNNA DIE!!!" For the record, I didn't mean to make our crash landing extra painful, it just kinda happened. See, I don't just hate transportation, I hate _anything_ that means my feet leave the ground. Therefore, instinctively, since we were already attached, I kinda clung onto Hiei. It did not help when Leon jokingly commented that we were gunna go 'splat' as that made me hyperventilate, cling on ten times harder and scream the above phrase right in poor Hiei's ear. Sometimes I gotta stop and wonder if he's a nervous wreck because its his nature, or because of me. I'm willing to bet gold it's the latter.

When we finally hit the ground it was with enough force to knock the wind out of me. Then, because god's a bitch, Hiei fell right on top of me successfully killing me for about five seconds. At the very least I had a momentary black out because the next thing I knew we were rolling down the mossy, pebble laden and stick friendly slope that made me so dizzy I buried my head in Hiei's chest so I wouldn't puke. A wave of nostalgia was elicited from this act that made my head spin in further torrents. I squeezed my eyes shut to try to block out the pain of thousands on tiny rips and scratches tearing open patches of clothes and flesh on my back. It wasn't until a cool wave of liquid enveloped me and I couldn't breathe that I was shocked into opening them again, finding that I was underwater and caught in a strong current that, no matter how hard I struggled, I couldn't get out of.

I started to dread the possibilities that being trapped in this position would bring forth and, whipped in frenzy, started thrashing for dear life to some how get another gulp of air in. Déjà vu welled up in me when a strong arm hoisted me up until my head broke the surface causing me to gasp and sputter through mouthfuls of watery air. "C-calm the fuck down!!" My head was buzzing and I felt sick but I knew that was Hiei talking to me through bits of water I'd sloshed into his mouth. _"He's right. You'll both drown if you don't stop." _I was still thrashing about in a panic. Petrified by the vision Leon had so kindly painted in my head, I tried to follow Hiei's advice or, rather, command. I chocked down the lump in my throat, and took a deep breath. Trying as hard as I could to focus my mind on steadily kicking and not where I was; I managed to somewhat contribute to helping us not drown. At the very least, it seemed a tiny bit easier for Hiei because his shoulder relaxed just a fraction of an inch.

I tried to catch sight of where we were and what was happening. We were in a river but how? Had we flown that far or did we roll to it? Regardless, the lump seemed like it was gone for good and I could see a log protruding from the bank up ahead. "Hiei!" I choked out and tried to point towards the thing but only managed to get a lungful of water. Luckily, Hiei got the gist of my meaning and went to grab for the branch. Not luckily, the log wasn't very strongly rooted to the ground and we were only immobile for a second before it fell into the water.

This immediately made me despair and panic but Hiei, level headed and used to thinking on his feet already knew what to do. Instead of releasing the branch like I would've, he used it to reel us towards the thing and threw my body on top of it. I dug into the soggy wood for dear life and used our conjoined hands to yank Hiei aboard.

"I _hate_ boats…" I mumbled, squeezing my eyes shut and trying to choke down the vomit building in my throat.

"I hope you realize this is your fault." Hiei growled.

"_MY _FAULT?!!?" I gasped, shooting up and glaring at him. While this was for the most part one hundred and twenty nine percent true, I still resented that he would accuse me as such. I was about to shout something at Hiei when an odd anomaly caught my eye and changed my statement. "Um… aren't waterfalls supposed to, ya know… fall?"

"What are you tal-" His words stopped just as he turned to look over his shoulder, catching glimpse of what I saw. He stiffened; I could tell his eyes had widened by the tone in his voice in which his words sounded broken and accusing. "What - is- _that_?"

Alright. I can over look the impossibility of fresh water flowing in the wrong direction, but not this. Up ahead of our tiny log raft laid one huge problem; a water fall. Oh, what a fucking terrible cliché right? Well, it would be if the water wasn't going _up_. The ground around the river rose until it hit at least an eighty degree cliff that, get this, had water shooting up it like those mechanical log fume drops only reversed. Oh my Jebus. Now is definitely the time to panic. _"Oh, please don't start…"_ "GET ME OFFA THIS THING!!!!! IMA GUNNA DIE!!!!!!!"

"Midori, calm the fuck- _ah!_" Hiei sucked in a startled gasp and changed his demands, "Get off of me! You idiot- I- ngh… I can't- _breathe_!"

"I HATE THIS!!!!! NUUUUUUEZ!!! HOLD ME!!!!!!!!!!!!" I glomped onto Hiei for dear life, successfully smothering the poor boy with my awesome. It's not my fault he was so damn small! Dammit, I wish he wasn't so portable, I don't wanna look at the scary inevitability of riding that stupid… what would I call it? A water rise? A water up? Scary reverse drop o' death? Anyway, I ignored the persistent shoving and pounding on my shoulders/belly as Hiei tried to free himself and instead hid my face in his impossible hair that somehow managed to stay fluffy (yet couldn't completely deify gravity) in this situation. _"By the seven holy circles… you're going to kill the poor boy!! At least loosen your grip!!" _I wish Leon could do something useful, rather than talk my ear off but Hiei did seem a little smothered so I loosened up my grip a bit without breaking the chain of my persistent panicked ramble. "-and-if-I-die-then-no-one's-gunna-feed-my-cat-that-I-don't-have-but-I-was-gunna-get-Ai-chan-as-a-mascot-when-we-got-back-and-I-won't-be-able-to-punch-out-Peter-Backerfeild-for-trying-to-feel-me-up-or-do-that-crazy-sluttly-table-dance-when-I-get-drunk-on-my-21st-birthday-or-have-sex-with-a-totally-hott-guy-or-yell-at-Rose-for-stealing-my-first-kiss-cuz-I-wanted-my-first-kiss-to-be-with-a-guy-not-a-girl-cuz-I'm-straight-even-though-it-felt-nice-and-I-won't-be-able-to-paint-my-room-crazy-colors-not-that-my-mom-would-let-me-and-" _"__**MIDORI**__!!!!!!"_ Hiei screamed and bumped my chin by jolting up so he could get a gasp of breath. "For the love of that damned child _will you calm the fu-_ wait. What was that last one?" His eyebrows furrowed and I offered meekly, "Um… I won't get to paint my room crazy colors?"

"No, before that." He instructed and I mentally ran through my rant.

"I won't get to have sex with a hott guy?" I asked.

"NO! In the _middle_!!"

"I won't get to yell at Rose for stealing my first kiss?" Bingo. That seemed to be it. Hiei was looking at me like I'd grown a second head until I finally burst, "WHAT?!?!"

"You… your first courtship was with a woman and- and you're _not_ into courting them?" Oho, fancy so Hiei does know terms. Fancy scientific words that made me feel like I was a sex starved koala. Courtship? I mean I know humans court but that sounds awkward and I _wasn't _courting her.

"Oh don't gimmie that look! It's called friends with benefit- it's completely normal for teens to do. Don't tell me you've never tried anything?!"

"Uh…" I didn't catch whatever Hiei said because, at that moment, just like those crazy Hotwheels speed boosters, our little log when through a rapid that shot us like a cannon up the water…rise… "_OH-MY-FUCKING-GOD-IMA-DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_"

It was like I'd been shoved through a taffy puller, my head went blank and I felt like I was being stretched into nothingness. The only indicator I had that Hiei was still with me was the occasional jolt from him trying to escape my glompy wrath, but I was focused on other things. I couldn't close my eyes for fear I'd fall off the log or puke. My hair whipped in painful torrents behind me and I imagined that, as we shot up the rapids, it would look like the tail of a comet. My stomach rose up into my throat and expanded so I couldn't scream anymore and the nothingness in my stomach flipped side to side with every crazy swerve as the water rose higher and higher. If I thought I was queasy, that was nothing to when we reached the top and spied a giant drop leading up to a – get this – _vertical_ whirlpool awaiting us. My eyes widened in horror and I found my voice just as we went of the edge, screaming, "_HOW _IS THIS EVEN_ POOOOSS-IIiiiiIIIIYYYYy-?!?!?_!"My voice rising and distorting off the swirling torrents surrounding us.

Oh my god. I'm going to be sick, my stomach just when into my uterus. No. It went to _China_. I think I'm just might piss my pants…. I've never _ever_ liked roller coasters or water rides from the minute my sadistic parents took me to Six Flags and this was possibly the fastest, most sickening drop I've ever experienced in my life. Water splashed up my nose just as the drop veered up into the crazy ass whirl pool. It was like someone had shrunk me, strapped me to a top and then strapped the top into a roller coaster just before it started loop-de-loops. I hate my life so much and this was faaaaaaar too much stress for me to handle. By the time we managed to float down into a light current, signaling the end of the 'ride', I was shaking like a leaf and had developed a nervous twitch in my right eye.

**To be honest with you guys, this has been on my computay for like forever because I reeeeeeeeeally wanted it to be longer so it didn't seen so random, however, for the life of me, I can't figure out how to continue this without making another chappie – it just cut itself off so cleanly!!! If you guys don't want crazy delays like this, I suggest you review!!!! I have a girl friend now so I won't waste the extra time if I don't get my payment!!**

**Bhel-Elryss: Don't you worry, that explanation is comeing but first Midori and Hiei must (spoilers) because they need (spoilers) and only then will (spoilers) thus they will reach (spoilers). XD We will later know what Elric and Hiei were talking about and once they reach the library all shall be revealed. **

**99bottles_of_rum: If pudding fell from the sky, I'd have a heart attack (cuz ima goldfish and wouldn't stop eatin). Nuuuuuuez!! Blast those fangirls!!! As for the blob o crap, pretty much one of the many wonderful and random sites they're bound to see on their travels, like crazy sideways whirlpools o death! XD**

**Crazy anime chick since 1993: I'm so glad you liked it!! Por qua was it your fav by far?! And yes, I shall update (what am I doin lamo?) XD**

**HeartlessOnna: Haha, I'm sorry your computay is no bueno. Lol, sorry for all the spanglish, I just did mah tarea for that class lamo. XD**


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